Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 12:3
Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
3. A promise connecting the first song with the second ( Isa 12:4-6).
wells of salvation ] (cf. Psa 87:7). The language is figurative, denoting the inexhaustible fulness of the Divine blessings prepared for the people of God.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore – In view of all his mercies, the Hebrew is, however; simply, and ye shall draw. It has already been intimated that the Jews applied this passage to the Holy Spirit: and that probably on this they based their custom of drawing water from the fountain of Siloam at the feast of the dedication (note, Joh 7:37). The fountain of Siloam was in the eastern part of the city, and the water was borne from that fountain in a golden cup, and was poured, with every expression of rejoicing, on the sacrifice on the altar. It is not probable, however, that this custom was in use in the time of Isaiah. The language is evidently figurative; but the meaning is obvious. A fountain, or a well, in the sacred writings, is an emblem of that which produces joy and refreshment; which sustains and cheers. The figure is often employed to denote that which supports and refreshes the soul; which sustains man when sinking from exhaustion, as the babbling, fountain or well refreshes the weary and fainting pilgrim (compare Joh 4:14).
It is thus applied to God as an overflowing fountain, suited to supply the needs of all his creatures Jer 2:13; Jer 17:13; Psa 36:9; Pro 14:27; and to his plan of salvation – the sources of comfort which he has opened in the scheme of redeeming mercy to satisfy the needs of the souls of people Zec 13:1; Isa 41:18; Rev 7:17. The word rivers is used in the same sense as fountains in the above places Isa 42:15; Isa 43:19-20. Generally, in the Scriptures, streams, fountains, rivers, are used as emblematic of the abundant fullness and richness of the mercies which God has provided to supply the spiritual necessities of men. The idea here is, therefore, that they should partake abundantly of the mercies of salvation; that it was free, overflowing, and refreshing – like waters to weary pilgrims in the desert; and that their partaking of it would be with joy. It would fill the soul with happiness; as the discovery of an abundant fountain, or a well in the desert, fills the thirsty pilgrim with rejoicing.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 12:3
Therefore with Joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation
Drawing water from the wells of salvation
The Talmudists refer the words, With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation, to the custom of making an oblation of water on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
But as it is not prescribed in the law of Moses, it has been doubted whether it dates back earlier than the times of the Maccabees. It is, however, at least as probable that the Asmonean princes should have restored an ancient as ordained a new rite; such a rite, to acknowledge Gods gift of the water without which harvest and vintage must have failed, would always have been a likely accompaniment of the feast in which these were celebrated; and the like acts of Samuel and Elijah, though for different purposes, perhaps go in confirmation of the ancient existence of such a practice. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
The prophecy and its fulfilment
Two events, separated from each other by fifteen hundred years, bear upon these words. One was the origin of the peculiar form of this prophecy, the other contains its interpretation and claims to be its fulfilment.
1. The wandering march of the children of Israel had brought them to Rephidim, where there was no water. Their parched lips opened to murmur and rebel against their unseen Leader and His visible lieutenant. At his wits end, Moses cried to God, and the answer is the command to take with him the elders of Israel, and with his rod in his hand to go up to Horeb; and then come grand words, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it. It is not the rock, nor the rod, nor the uplifted hand, but it is the presence of God which makes the sparkling streams pour out. How the thirsty men would drink, how gladly they would fling themselves on the ground and glue their lips to the glancing blessing, or dip their cups and skins into it, as it flashed along! Many a psalm and prophecy refer to this old story, and clearly Isaiah had it in his mind here, for the whole context is full of allusions to the history of the Exodus, as a symbol of the better deliverance from a worse bondage, which the Root of Jesse was to effect. The lyric burst of praise, of which the text is part, carries on the same allusion. The joyful band of pilgrims returning from this captivity sing the Song of Moses, chanted first by the banks of the Red Sea, The Lord is my strength and song and He is become my salvation. This distinct quotation, which immediately precedes our text, makes the reference in it which we have pointed out, most probable and natural. The connection of these words with the story in the Exodus was recognised by the Jews at a very early period, as is plain from their use in the remarkable ritual of the Feast of Tabernacles. That festival was originally appointed to preserve the remembrance of Israels nomad life in the wilderness. In the later days of the nation, a number of symbolical observances were added to those of the original institution. Daily, amidst loud jubilations, the priests wound in long procession down the slope from the temple to the fountain of Siloam in the valley beneath, and there drew water in golden urns. They bore it back, the crowd surging around them, and then amidst the blast of trumpets, and a tumult of rejoicing, they poured it on the altar, while thousands of voices chanted Isaiahs words, With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
2. So much for the occasion of the prophecy; now for its meaning and fulfilment. Nearly eight hundred years have passed. Again the festival has come round. For seven days the glad ceremonial has been performed. For the last time the priestly procession has gone down the rocky road; for the last time the vases have been filled at the cool fountain below; for the last time the bright water has been poured out sparkling in the sunlight; for the last time the shout of joy has risen and fallen, and as the words of the ancient chant were dying on the ear, a sudden stir began among the crowd, and from the midst of them, as they parted for his passage, came a young man, rustic in appearance, and there, before all the silence-stricken multitude, and priests with their empty urns, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. Surely such words, in such a connection, at such a time, from such lips, are meant to point the path to the true understanding of the text. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The wells of salvation
I. Consider what we have to understand by THE WELLS OF SALVATION.
1. We are not to be content with any shallow and narrow interpretation of either idea in that phrase. No doubt salvation in the Old Testament often means merely outward deliverance from material peril. We shall not strain the meaning here, if we take salvation almost in the fully developed New Testament sense, as including, negatively, the deliverance from all evil, both evil of sin and evil of sorrow, and, positively, the endowment with all good, good both of holiness and happiness, which God can bestow or man receive.
2. Then if so, God Himself is, in the deepest truth, the Well of Salvation. The figure of our text does not point to a well so much as to a spring. It is a source, not a reservoir. So we have but to recall, the deep and wonderful words of the psalmist: With Thee is the fountain of life, and others not less profound of the prophet: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, in order to be led up to the essential meaning of this text. Salvation has its origin in the depths of Gods own nature. It wells up as of itself, not drawn forth by anything in us, but pouring out as from an inner impulse in His own deep heart. Surely, too, if God be the fountain of salvation, the essence of salvation must be His communication of Himself. The water is the same in the fountain as in the pitcher. But, God being the true fountain of salvation, notice that Jesus Christ plainly and decisively puts Himself in the place that belongs to God: If any man thirst, etc. Think of the extraordinary claims involved in that invitation. Every craving of heart and mind, all longings for love and wisdom, for purity and joy, for strength and guidance, He assumes to be able to slake by the gift of Himself.
3. One other remark may be made on this part of our subject. The first word of our text carries us back to something preceding, on which the drawing water with joy is founded. That something is expressed immediately before: The Lord Jehovah is my strength and song, etc. These words are quoted from Moses song at the Red Sea, and there point to the one definite act by which God had saved the people from their pursuers. In like manner, we have to look to a definite historical act by which the fountain of salvation has been opened for us, and our glad drawing therefrom has been made possible. The mission and work of Jesus Christ, His incarnation, passion and death, are the means by which the sealed fountain has been opened. For men, Jesus Christ is as the river which flows from the closed and land-locked sea of the infinite Divine nature. He is for us the only source, the inexhaustible, the perennial source–like some spring never hot or muddy, never frozen, never walled in,never sinking one hairbreadth in its basin, though armies drink, and ages pass.
II. Consider again, what is THE WAY OF DRAWING from the wells of salvation.
1. Christ has taught us what drawing is. To the Samaritan woman He said, Thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. So then Drawing is Asking. To the crowds in the temple courts He said, Let him come unto Me and drink. So, then, Drawing is Coming. To the listeners by the Sea of Galilee He said, He that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst. So Coming, Asking, Drawing, are all explained by Believing.
2. Now that faith which is thus powerful, must fasten on a definite historical fact. The faith which draws from the fountain of salvation is not a vague faith in generalities about Gods goodness and the like, but it grasps God as revealed and becoming our salvation in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.
3. The words preceding our text suggest another characteristic of the faith which really draws water from the fountain: He is become my salvation. That is to say, this believing grasp of Christ manifested in a definite historical act is an intensely personal thing,
3. Consider, too, THE JOY OF THE WATER DRAWERS. The well is the meeting place in these hot lands, where the solitary shepherds from the pastures and the maidens from the black camels hair tents meet in the cool evening, and ringing laughter and cheery talk go round. Or the allusion may be rather to the joy, as of escape from death, with which some exhausted travellers press towards the palm trees on the horizon that tell of a spring in the desert, and when they have reached it, crowd to the fountain and drink greedily, no matter how hot and muddy it may be. So jubilant is the heart of the man whose soul is filled and feasted with the God of his salvation, and the salvation of his God. Such a man has all the sources and motives for joy which the heart can ask. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Salvation: how to get it
People have given many answers to the question, If God be the fountain of salvation, how are we to get the water? if I may say so, pumps of all sorts have been tried, and there has been much weary working of arms at the handles, and much jangling of buckets and nothing brought up. The old word is true, with a new application to all who try in any shape to procure salvation by any work of their own: Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. But there is no need for all this profitless work. It is as foolish as it would be to spend money and pains in sinking a well in some mountainous country, where every hillside is seamed with watercourses, and all that is needed is to put one end of any kind of wooden spout into the burn and your vessels under the other. The well of salvation is an artesian well that needs no machinery to raise the water, but only pitchers to receive it as it rises. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Christs ordinances
I. WHAT IS UNDERSTOOD BY A MEANS OF SALVATION. It is that by and through which the Lord Jesus doth by His spirit convey grace and salvation into a soul. These means are some outward, some inward; some ordinary, others extraordinary.
II. WHAT THESE MEANS OF SALVATION ARE.
1. The inward means is faith (Heb 4:2). This ordinarily requires an outward means to work it by. But being wrought, it is the great inward means of communication betwixt Christ and the soul.
2. Extraordinary means are whatsoever the Lord in His sovereign wisdom is pleased to make use of extraordinarily for conveying grace into the hearts of His elect, as He did a voice from heaven for the conversion of Paul.
3. The outward and ordinary means are the Lords own ordinances Rom 10:14-15).
(1) In general, all the ordinances of God without exception, which He has set up in His Church for that end.
(2) The most special means of grace and salvation are the Word, sacraments, and prayer.
III. WHAT MAKES ANY ORDINANCE A MEANS OF GRACE, a well of salvation, out of which one may in faith look to draw water for his soul, or get spiritual good by.
1. No ordinance whatsoever can avail without a particular blessing; for the efficacy of ordinances is not natural, or from themselves.
2. Mens institutions or ordinances, in respect of God, are forbidden, and condemned by the Lords word, namely, in the second commandment.
3. Mens use of them is not only useless, but worse, not only to no good purpose, but to ill purpose. That which makes any ordinance a means of grace or salvation, is Divine institution only (Mat 28:20). Therefore the first question in all ordinances ought to be, Whose is this image and superscription?
IV. TO WHOM THE LORDS ORDINANCES ARE MADE EFFECTUAL.
1. Not to all who partake of them. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Many come to these wells who never taste of the water. I think it an unwarrantable expression, that all Gods ordinances do attain their end, in the salvation or damnation of all that come under them; for damnation is not the end of any of Gods ordinances, but salvation.
2. But to all the elect they are effectual, unto whom they come (Acts Joh 10:26).
V. WHENCE THE EFFICACY OF ORDINANCES PROCEEDS. It does not proceed from any virtue in themselves, or in him that administers them, but from the Spirit of the Lord working in them and by them (1Co 3:7). (T. Boston, D. D.)
The wells of salvation
I. THE WATER. The entire text refers to the great work of God in saving sinners by the obedience and death of His Son.
1. Water is essential to life.
2. Water is purifying in its influence.
3. It has refreshing and fertilising properties. In this country where water abounds we can hardly appreciate this. In the East a draught of cold water was frequently invaluable. It was not only valuable to the body of man, but fertilising to the earth. In this part of the world we have too much water, and our ingenuity is taxed to drain the land, but in the East ingenuity would be stretched to irrigate it.
4. It is a thing of universal adaptation. There are some persons who cannot take milk, others cannot take different kinds of food, and some cannot take vegetables to any amount; and so on. But you never found anyone who could do without water. It is a fact that not only can none of the human race do without it, but all the human race can take it. In like manner, the Gospel is for every class and condition of men.
II. THE WELLS OF SALVATION. Wherever the pure Gospel is preached, it may be considered one of the wells of salvation.
1. Properly speaking, the Deity is the well of salvation. Christ is the great medium, the great procuring cause, the great efficient cause, and the Holy Ghost is the water of life.
2. Again, the Scriptures of truth may be considered wells of salvation. We moreover observe that in an emphatic manner, all through the Holy Scriptures of revealed truth, Christ is preached, and they are thus wells of salvation.
3. Further, Christ is essentially and emphatically the well of salvation.
III. THE DRAWING OF THE WATER.
1. If you want to draw water, you must come near to the well. If you want to understand something about Christ, you must come to the Bible; you must listen to the Gospel faithfully preached, or, rather, you must come to Christ Jesus Himself.
2. There must be a personal application.
3. This drawing of the water must be continuous. That is a remarkable passage in 1Pe 2:4 –To whom coming. Coming denotes continued application. We must not only come for justification and sanctification to Christ, but we must continue to come.
IV. THE JOY. With joy, etc. No wonder when you consider–
1. The unrestricted freeness of the Gospel.
2. The gratuitousness of this great blessing.
3. That this joy inspires a glorious hope of eternal bliss. (Hugh Allen, M. A.)
A discovery of God’s mercy in Christ
Let us consider the feelings which a discovery of Gods mercy in Christ awakens in the breasts of believers.
I. IT GIVES JOY TO THE BELIEVING SINNER WHEN HE FIRST DISCOVERS IT.
II. IT YIELDS JOY TO HIM THROUGH HIS WHOLE LIFE AFTERWARDS. (G. Innes.)
Wells of salvation
I. THE METAPHOR BY WHICH SALVATION IS HERE DESCRIBED. Wells of salvation. Water is a favourite emblem in the sacred Scriptures for setting forth the blessings of salvation, especially in the writings of the Old Testament prophets. Salvation, like a well, is–
1. Invisible in its source. God prepares the water for the wells in hidden springs. Man can make a well, but he cannot make a spring; so men may form systems of religion of their own, but they are only wells without water. Salvation is a well of Gods own construction, and He alone from His own hidden resources can supply the life-giving water. There is much mystery in the source of an ordinary well of water, yet we do not allow our inability to fully understand it to present an insuperable barrier in the way of accepting its great blessings; let us exercise the same common sense in our treatment of the wells of salvation.
2. Inexhaustible in its supply. A stream may be dried up, a river may fail to flow, a cistern may be exhausted, but a well is fed from hidden deep springs. In the Gospel of Christ there is enough for each, enough for all, enough for evermore.
3. Inestimable in its service.
II. THE MEANS BY WHICH SALVATION IS TO BE OBTAINED. With joy shall ye draw, etc. It is not enough for the thirsty to draw near to a well, not enough to look into it, and listen to the music of its waters–an effort must be made, it must be appropriated.
1. We must draw. God provides the well, but we must use the hand of faith; by the rope of effort we must let down the pitcher of desire–and as we draw the blessing up, we shall not thank the instruments by which we obtain the water, but we shall thank Him who provided it so freely for us.
2. We must drink. Not enough to draw the water to the edge of the well, not enough to lift it to the lips, the water must be drunk as well as drawn.
III. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH SALVATION IS TO BE RECEIVED. With joy, etc. The teaching of our text harmonises with the inductions of reason, and with the dictates of common sense. For how else could we draw water out of the wells of salvation? Will not the sufferer go gladly to the physician who has the ability and willingness to heal? Will not the fainting traveller go with joy to the well he discovers close by? (F. W. Brown.)
Drawing water from the wells of salvation
The question naturally arising from these words is, What will make us draw water with joy from these wells? In general we might remark, that these being styled the wells of salvation is a sufficient reason for this joy, provided it is kept properly in view. But more particularly, I remark–
I. That these wells must be KEPT OPEN for this purpose. The Church of Christ, because devoted to Him, and accessible to none other, is like a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Not so the ordinances of grace: they are accessible to all. To keep these open, ministers must labour, travail as in birth, preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season. Pointed careful attention on the part of the hearers, accompanied with fervent prayer, must keep them open.
II. They must be KEPT PURE, living, running clear from the throne, No admixture to foul them must be allowed. No addition of ours, nothing kept back.
III. These waters must be TASTED.
IV. We must HIGHLY VALUE these wells, if we would draw water from them with joy.
V. A REWARD APPLICATION to these wells is necessary to our spiritual comfort. We must continue hungering and thirsting after righteousness. This application may be made at all times, and in every state. In the public and private and secret exercises of religion, in health and sickness, in the prison or the palace, wherever God is, public ordinances must be preferred. Application:
(1) To those who are employed in drawing water for others; and who, in order to this, should draw for themselves, that they may be successful in their work. Do we make it our study to speak from the heart to the heart?
(2) To those who think these wells are dry to them. What is the reason of this? Has it proceeded from the ministry? Have you expected from them what you should have from their Master? Have you never thought on your own misimprovement? Have you prayed that these wells might be opened to you?
(3) To those who have drawn, or think they have with joy drawn water from the wells of salvation. How ardent will your desires be. He that drinks of this water will not thirst again. Inordinate desires after the world will be quenched–they will be subdued. And here the fullest satisfaction will be obtained. (A. Brown.)
The wells of salvation
I. THE WELLS OF SALVATION. The value of the water yielded by these wells is found in the saving effects to be met with in those who come hither to draw and to drink. These waters impart strength to the worker, courage to the timid, joy to the mourner, refreshment to the weary, and satisfaction to the dry, and the thirsty. There is no evil in the spirit that this water will not cure. It would be a worlds wonder if Gods own Spirit could not make mans spirit as lively and happy as its inherent limits will allow; as happy for man as God, as been happy in Himself from eternity. Observe now that the great salvation which is in God–nay, which is God in us by His Spirit–finds its way outwards to thirsty drinkers through many outlets and notthrough one only. There are as many of these precious wells as there are distinctly revealed truths on the page of Scripture. Every promise of blessing, every call to duty, every story of Gods dealings with Israel and the nations, every prediction, every verse of sacred song, every miracle and parable of Christ, every word, indeed, that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, is, through the Spirit, a well of salvation. In a transferred sense, there are as many wells of salvation as there are living Christians on earth at a given time. The heart that draws water from the wells above mentioned, becomes itself a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Every Christian worker is, in an especial sense, a well of this kind.
II. THE JOYFUL DRINKING OF THE WATER found in these wells.
1. The drawer of water from any well of salvation is anyone anywhere who chooses. Whosoever will, let, him take the water of life freely.
2. The drawing and drinking impulse is the inward thirst of spirit, which, in a general form, characterises all mankind, and shows itself in spiritual minds in the form of thirst for this water in particular. Let him that is athirst come.
3. The drawing power is communicated by the Holy Spirit acting in His character as the promised Comforter and helper of our infirmities. In one point of view He is the power through which we draw and drink, as in another aspect He is the water we work with in this way for the refreshment of our souls and their true life.
4. The drawing apparatus includes all outward means available for help in our endeavours after the truth expressed in this or in that part of revelation, parallel passages containing like ideas or identical expressions, sound and able expositions, and along with these the lives and deeds of our Lords faithful and enlightened followers. The intimation in hand lays special stress upon the joy with which the drawing of this water is begun and kept up. This joy comes of the thought that the water is pure, life giving, and refreshing; of the ease with which the drawing machinery is used when all is right with the man who works it, and when the hallowed practice is maintained; of the fulness and constancy of the stream which flows toward us, after it has been drawn up from the depths of the well that is being worked at the time; and of the exhilarating effects of the water when taken freely. The joy prompts and helps the work of drawing. The drawing enlarges and maintains the joy. (David Lowe.)
The wells of salvation
I. THE PREPARED WELLS. A well differs from a spring in this: a spring is a natural outlet for the waters in the earth; a well is an artificial one made by man. The well is the result of design. So the wells of salvation represent a Divine design. These wells are the varied means of grace provided by God for our highest welfare. Two cautions deserve our serious thought.
1. We must not ignore, or neglect, any of these wells, for God in wisdom has caused them to be dug.
2. We must not substitute for these wells any cisterns of mere human digging.
II. THE REFRESHING WATERS of these wells of salvation. Jesus Himself called it living water. It is elsewhere called the water of life–a very expressive way of representing that salvation which one receives through the appointed means of grace. For–
1. Like living water, this salvation is very refreshing to the thirsty soul.
2. Like water, this salvation cleanses.
3. Like water, this salvation is free.
4. And this water is inexhaustible.
III. THE JOYFUL DRAWING. (E. H. Witman.)
The wells of salvation
I. THE WELLS. God, in carrying on His government, has seen it wise to act usually through agencies and means. He has provided means for carrying out His great and gracious purposes in redemption. These are here presented to us as wells.
II. THE DRAWING OUT OF THESE WELLS.
1. The existence of the means of grace is not enough.
2. We never will appropriate those blessings until impelled by a sense of need.
III. THE JOY. There are many things in Christ fitted to inspire joy.
1. His adaptation to the wants of the sinner.
2. His fulness.
3. He is an eternal Christ.
4. There is cause of rejoicing in the terms on which He is tendered.
The Gospel is brought within the reach of the poorest, the most abject, the most hopeless. Its language is not Do, or Give, but Take. And if Christ be so free, is it any wonder if the sinner should appropriate Him with joy? Application:
(1) What a wilderness this land would be without its Sabbaths, its Bibles, its sermons, its communions!
(2) The danger of polluted wells. We dare not mingle anything with Christ.
(3) If we have Christ in the ordinances, let us strive to partake of His fulness. (T. Maclauchlan, LL. D.)
The means of grace to be diligently used
Drawing water is an employment which requires strength, labour, and diligence, to which some means or instruments of conveyance are indispensably requisite. From these and other circumstances attending this operation we learn the import of the spiritual exercise here intended. The blessings communicated by the Holy Ghost are obtained by diligent application of the mind to prayer, attentive reading, hearing, and meditation; and by rightly disposing and digesting the subjects read, heard, and contemplated, so as believingly to apply them for the great purposes of spiritual improvement. (R. Macculloch.)
The wells of salvation
The plural is used because God is as many wells, inexhaustible. (W. Day, M. A.)
Wells of salvation: the Word of God
A young girl, going to be servant in a grand house, was discovered one day in the servants hall reading her Bible. Her mistress, richly attired in satin, with dazzling jewels, stood amazed at the sight of her poor domestic, who had but one spare evening a month, employing it in the study of Scripture. Maggie, she said, what are you doing with that Book? It is not right that you should read it tonight. You should be out, girl. The mistress, though thoroughly worldly, yet had a kind heart, and put her hand on the shrinking girl. Maggie looked up with sweet and steadfast eyes. This is enjoyment, maam, she said timidly.
Wells of salvation: the house of God
The camel, weary with his hundred miles travel across the burning sands, eats a few dried leaves, drinks at the well, lies down on the hot earth, and rolls about awhile, and is ready for another dash across the arid plain. So the tired burden bearer comes to the house of God, drinks from the fountain of life, and is renewed in soul and body too. (Kings Highway.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Your thirsty and fainting souls shall be filled with Divine graces and comforts, which you may plentifully draw from God in the use of gospel ordinances, which was oft signified by water, both in the Old and in the New Testament. He seems to allude to the state of Israel in the wilderness, where when they had been tormented with thirst, they were greatly refreshed and delighted with those waters which God so graciously and wonderfully afforded them in that dry and barren land, Num 20:11; 21:16-18.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. draw water . . . salvationanexpressive image in a hot country. On the last day of the feast oftabernacles the Jews used to bring water in a golden pitcher from thefountain of Siloam, and pour it, mingled with wine, on the sacrificeon the altar, with great rejoicing. This is the allusion in Jesus’words on “the last day of the feast” (Joh 7:2;Joh 7:37-39). The pouringout of water indicated repentance (1Sa7:6; compare, as to the Jews’ repentance hereafter, Zec12:10). There shall be a latter outpouring of the Spiritlike the former one on pentecost (Joe2:23).
wellsnot mere streams,which may run dry, but ever-flowing fountains (Joh 4:14;Joh 7:38), “Out of his belly(that is, in and from himself)living water” (Isa 42:18;Psa 84:6; Zec 13:1;Rev 7:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore with joy shall ye draw water,…. These words are either an exhortation to others, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, “draw ye”; and so likewise an encouragement to them by her example, or a prophecy that they should do this; that is, apply to Christ for grace, and receive it from him: for by “water” is meant grace, which is compared to it, because it is softening, purifying, fructifying, cooling, and refreshing, and extinguishes thirst; and this is to be “drawn”, it is to be come at, though the well in which it is be deep, and not in the reach of everyone; the bucket is faith that it is drawn with, and this is the gift of God; and it is in the exercise of this grace, which requires diligence, strength, and labour, that saints receive from Christ, and grace for grace; and this is exercised in the use of means, by prayer, reading of the Scriptures, and attendance on the word and ordinances, by which faith draws hard, and receives much, and, when it does, it is attended “with joy”: salvation itself is received with joy, and so is the Saviour; as also a justifying righteousness, and pardoning grace, and likewise every supply of grace; which joy is of a spiritual kind, is in a way of believing, what a stranger intermeddles not with, and is unspeakable and full of glory:
out of the wells of salvation, or “fountains”; as all the three Persons are; Jehovah the Father, as he is called “the fountain of living water”, Jer 2:13 so he is the fountain of salvation; it springs from him, from his everlasting love, his eternal purposes, his infinite wisdom, his sure and unalterable covenant, his free grace in the mission of his Son; and he himself is the God of grace, from whence it all comes, and every supply of it. The Spirit and his grace are called a “well of living water”, Joh 4:14 and he also is a well of salvation; it is he that convinces men of their need of it, that brings near this salvation to them, and shows them their interest in it, and bears witness to it, and is the earnest and pledge of it; and he is the author of all that grace which makes them meet for it, and from whom are all the supplies of it by the way. But more especially Christ is meant, who is the “fountain of gardens, and well of living water”, So 4:15 in whom salvation is, and in no other: the words may be rendered, “the wells” or “fountains of the Saviour” r, yea, of Jesus; and which are no other than the fulness of grace in him: the phrase denotes the abundance of grace in Christ, much of which is given out in conversion; an abundance of it is received with the free gift of righteousness for justification; and a large measure of it in the pardon of sins, and in all the after supplies, through the wilderness of this world, till the saints come to glory; and which is vouchsafed to a great number, to all the elect angels and elect men, to all the churches, and the members thereof, in all ages; and this always has been and ever will be communicating to them. The Targum is,
“and ye shall receive a new doctrine from the chosen, the righteous;”
or of the righteous; which is true of the doctrine of the Gospel, received by the hands of chosen men, the apostles of Christ. The Jews s make use of this passage, in confirmation of the ceremony of drawing of water at the feast of tabernacles; and say t it signifies the drawing of the Holy Ghost; that is, his grace.
r “de fontibus Salvatoris”, V. L.; Vatablus. s T. Bab. Succa, fol. 48. 2. & 50. 2. t Bereshit Rabba, sect. 70. fol. 62. 3. T. Hieros. Succa, fol. 55. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Isa 12:3, again, contains a prophetic promise, which points back to the commencement of Isa 12:1: “And with rapture ye will draw water out of the wells of salvation.” Just as Israel was miraculously supplied with water in the desert, so will the God of salvation, who has become your salvation, open many and manifold sources of salvation for you ( as it is pointed here, instead of ,
(Note: The root is the same as, for example, in (they rejoice) and ; here, however, it is more striking, because the singular is written , and not . At the same time, it is evident that the connecting sound ay was rather preferred than avoided, as Ewald maintains – as we may see, for example, from the repeated aychi in Ps 103.))
from which ye may draw with and according to your heart’s delight. This water of salvation, then, forms both the material for, and instigation to, new songs of praise; and Isa 12:4-6 therefore continue in the strain of a psalm: “And ye will say in that day, Praise Jehovah, proclaim His name, make known His doings among the nations, boast that His name is exalted. Harp to Jehovah; for He has displayed majesty: let this be known in all lands. Shout and be jubilant, O inhabitants of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.” The first song of six lines is here followed by a second of seven lines: a prophetic word of promise, inserted between them, separates the one from the other. This second also commences with the well-known tones of a psalm (compare especially Psa 105:1; 1Ch 16:8). The phrase, “Call upon the name of Jehovah,” signifies, Make the name of Jehovah the medium of invocation (Ges. 138, Anm. 3*), i.e., invoke it, or, as here, call it out. Ge’uth is high, towering dignity; here it is used of God, as in Isa 26:10, with asah : to prove it practically, just as with labesh in Psa 93:1, to show one’s self openly therein. Instead of the Chethib meyuddaath in Isa 12:5, the keri substitutes the hophal form mudaath , probably because m eyudda , according to the standing usage of speech, denotes one well known, or intimate; the passive of the hophal is certainly the more suitable. According to the preceding appeals, the words are to be understood as expressing a desire, that the glorious self-attestation of the God of salvation might be brought to the consciousness of the whole of the inhabitants of the earth, i.e., of all mankind. When God redeems His people, He has the salvation of all the nations in view. It is the knowledge of the Holy One of Israel, made known through the word of proclamation, that brings salvation to them all. How well may the church on Zion rejoice, to have such a God dwelling in the midst of it! He is great as the giver or promises, and great in fulfilling them; great in grace, and great in judgment; great in all His saving acts which spread from Israel to all mankind. Thus does this second psalm of the redeemed nation close, and with it the book of Immanuel.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verse 3-6: A HYMN OF PRAISE
1. With what holy delight will those who have learned to trust the Lord then draw the water of life, liberally and freely, from the inexhaustible “wells of salvation”, (Joh 4:10; Joh 7:37-38; Isa 41:18; Isa 55:1; Psa 42:1; Jer 2:13; Rev 22:17).
2. Not only will they “praise the Lord” (Isa 24:15-16; Isa 42:12); they will also urge others:
a. To “call upon (proclaim) His name”, (Psa 105:1; Psa 99:6; Psa 22:4-5; 1Sa 12:18; Exo 15:25; Exo 32:30-34).
b. To declare His marvelous works among the people, (Psa 145:4-7).
c. And to advertise the exaltation of His name.
3. For excellent deeds, known to all the earth, they are commanded to “sing unto the Lord!” (Zep 3:14; Isa 42:10; Isa 49:13; Exo 15:1; Zec 2:10; Psa 98:1).
4. And those who inhabit Jerusalem are to exult in “the Holy One of Israel”, Who now dwells within her gates, (Isa 52:9-10; Isa 45:1; Eze 48:35; Jer 3:17).
5. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, the Lord’s church already has the privilege of experiencing a foretaste of this blessedness -limited only by our lack of faith, (Rom 14:17-18).
a. The word of God has a far-reaching applicability – though we must never confuse application with primary interpretation.
b. Whoever trusts God, in any age, may confidently sing: “I will trust and not be afraid!” (Psalms 46; Pro 3:3-5; Heb 13:5-6).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3. You shall draw waters with joy. In this verse he confirms what we have already noticed, that this chapter may be regarded as a seal to confirm the promise which he gave about the redemption of his people. As if he had said, “The salvation of God hath been set before you, as if it were a constant running fountain, from which you can draw waters in abundance.” This is a very beautiful metaphor; for in this life nothing is more necessary than water, so that there is no kind of scarcity that gives us more uneasiness or more distress than a scarcity of water. Thus, by a figure of speech, in which a part is taken for the whole, he declares that everything necessary for supporting life flows to us from the undeserved goodness of God. And since we are empty and destitute of everything good, he appropriately compares the mercy of God to a fountain, which satisfies those who are thirsty and dry, refreshes those who are parched with heat, and revives those who are worn out with fatigue.
From the fountains of the Savior. (195) This word is more appropriate to this passage than if he had said, “ from the fountains of God;” for it yields more consolation when we know that he is the author of our salvation, and therefore the Prophet has skilfully adapted this term to the situation in which it is placed. Now, if this promise includes the whole of Christ’s reign, we ought constantly to apply it to our use. Let us therefore know that the goodness of God is held out to us, that we may be satisfied with it; for we ought to be like a dry and thirsty land, as the Psalmist says, (Psa 143:6,) that we may desire the waters of the Lord. This goodness of God is wonderful and beyond what could have been believed, that he does not suffer us to burn with unsatisfied desire, but presents a fountain from which we may draw abundantly. That fountain is Christ, in whom all God’s benefits are imparted to us; for out of his fullness, as John says, we all draw. (Joh 1:16.) It remains, therefore, that whenever we feel our want we go directly to him.
(195) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
WELLS OF SALVATION
Isa. 12:3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Salvation is the great theme of the Bible, and thus it meets mans great need. Think, I. of THE WELLS, the sources of salvation. Clearly these are not found in man himself. Salvation originated in the eternal love of God for man; it flows to sinners through the work of Jesus; it is by the influences of the Holy Spirit that the sinner is made willing to partake of it. These truly are wells of salvation; not rills that may dry up; not even rivers, which may fail because the streams from the mountains have failed; but wells, fountains over-flowing, inexhaustible as the nature of God. II. OF THE WATER. A beautiful symbol of a great reality. Excepting the air we breathe, there is no element so widely diffused, nor so essential to life, as water. Imagine a great city, a whole district, a ships crew without water [997]
1. Water revives. How the traveller dying from thirst begins to revive the instant water touches his lips; so the salvation of the gospel imparts new life to the soul; an invigoration, moreover, that shall not pass away (Joh. 4:14).
2. Water cleanses. So does the salvation of the gospel (Rev. 1:5; Heb. 9:14; Eze. 36:25; Zec. 13:1).
3. Water fertilises. The water of salvation enriches and fertilises the spiritual soil, so that the blossoms of hope in the early spring-time of piety, and the matured fruits of holiness in the autumn of life, adorn the garden of the Lord (Isa. 58:11; Jer. 31:12; Psa. 1:3; Num. 24:9). III. Of THE JOY.
1. This can only be experienced by such as draw water out of the wells of salvation. Necessarily it is a matter of experience. There are many things that must be felt to be known, and this is one of them.
2. This joy may be expected in the very act of drawing the water of salvation. If you were to overtake a traveller in a sandy desert dying from thirst, he would begin to enjoy the very moment he became conscious of the touch of the precious fluid. So with the Christian (Rom. 15:13). And as he may and ought to be constantly drawing from the wells of salvation, his life should always be a happy life (H. E. I., 30373051; P. D., 2085).
[997] Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,
Twas sad as sad could be;
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea!
All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody sun at noon
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the moon.
Day after day, day after day
We stuck, nor breath, nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
Coleridge: Ancient Mariner.
Our text may be regarded
1. As giving full permission to do that of which it speaks. However unworthy we may be, we may come to the wells of salvation, and draw as much as we need (Rev. 22:17; H. E. I., 2331, 2361, 2362, 4086).
2. Nay, as a command. When a sovereign prepares a banquet, and issues his invitations, those invitations have the force of commands. God has graciously provided salvation for your souls in Christ: will you turn away, and despise His love?John Rawlinson.
Salvationlet us not think of it meanly. It has past, present, future aspects. Too often we content ourselves with the past view of it, and that in a selfish way. Twenty or thirty years ago, we believed and were saved, i.e., got out of harms way. What is Gods grace doing for us? Is it making us purer, nobler? And what are our aspirations and prospects? Are we imitators of the great Apostle (Php. 3:13-14).
This comprehensive and glorious salvation, what is its source? Whence is it to be drawn? From GOD. Behold, God is my salvation. Therefore, &c. The third verse must never be separated in thought from the second, With Thee is the fountain of lifewith God as revealed to us in Christ. This is the claim of Christ Himself (Joh. 8:37-38) [1000] He stands over against all the ignorance, the guilt, the pollution, and the deathfulness of man, as the infinite Fulness (1Co. 1:30; Col. 1:19; Joh. 1:16; H. E. I., 934941). All the wells of salvation are in Him; and from Him His people draw the priceless water with joy. This is a duty, but it is performed by them as freely and spontaneously as on a summer morning the birds fill the air with music. They do so
1. Because the wells of salvation are free to all, and easily accessible by all. Were it not so, we might fear that we or our friends were excluded therefrom. But Gods salvation, like all His best giftsair, light, wateris free to all alike (H. E. I., 942, 943, 2331, 2361, 2362). And it is easily accessible; no harder terms are imposed upon us than it is possible and right for us to comply with. (All this is summed up in chap. Isa. 55:1.)
2. Because the wells of salvation are inexhaustible. Picture the fainting and despairing condition of a traveller who, in a time of scorching heat, comes to a well, and finds it empty. No such fate awaits the true seeker after God. Other sources of help will deceive and fail us (Jer. 2:13).
3. Because of the deep satisfaction which is derived therefrom (Joh. 4:14; H. E. I., 968971, 1658, 1659, 27382837, 46274630, 4970).
4. Because the fulness that thus becomes ours is a source of blessing to others (Gen. 12:2; Gen. 39:5; Pro. 18:4; Isa. 58:11; Eze. 47:12; Zec. 14:8; H. E. I., 17401743) [1003]
[1000] The Talmudists refer the words, With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation, to the custom of making an oblation of water on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, when a priest fetched water in a golden pitcher from the fountain of Siloah, and poured it mixed with wine on the morning sacrifice as it lay on the altar; while at the evening offering the same was done amidst shouts of joy from the assembled people. It was in obvious allusion to this rite that, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink; but as it is not prescribed in the law of Moses, it has been doubted whether it dates back earlier than the times of the Maccabees. It is, however, at least as probable that the Asmonean princes should have restored an ancient as ordained a new rite: such a rite, to acknowledge Gods gift of water without which harvest and vintage must have failed, would always have been a likely accompaniment of the feast in which these were celebrated; and the like acts of Samuel and Elijah, though for different purposes, perhaps go in confirmation of the ancient existence of such a practice (1Sa. 7:6; 1Ki. 18:33-35). Be this as it may, the idea conveyed by the image of the living water will be the same:Such as is the refreshment of water from the spring, and from the clouds of heaven, to the parched lips and the thirsty land, in this our sultry climate, such shall be the refreshment to your spirit in that day from the salvation of Jehovah. He shall dwell among you, and His Spirit shall be a well of life to the whole nation.Strachey.
[1003] Joh. 7:38, In the Book Sohar we find the same metaphor, fol. 40, Colossians 4, When a man turns to God, he becomes like a spring of fresh living water, and streams flow out from him to all men.Geikie.
The last day of the feast, known as the Hosanna Rabba and the Great Day, found Him, as each day before, doubtless, had done, in the Temple arcades. He had gone thither early, to meet the crowds assembled for morning prayer. It was a day of special rejoicing. A great procession of pilgrims marched seven times round the city, with their lulats[branches of palm woven round with willow and myrtle], music, and loud-voiced choirs preceding, and the air was rent with shouts of Hosanna, in commemoration of the taking of Jericho, the first city in the Holy Land that fell into the hands of their fathers. Other multitudes streamed to the brooks of Shiloah, after the priests and Levites, bearing the golden vessels, with which to draw some of the water. As many as could get near the stream drank of it, amidst loud chanting of the words of IsaiahHo, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,With joy shall we draw water from the wells of salvation,rising in jubilant chants on every side. The water drawn by the priests was meanwhile borne up to the Temple, amid the boundless excitement of a vast throng. Such a crowd was, apparently, passing at this moment.
Rising, as the throng went by, His Spirit was moved at such honest enthusiasm, yet saddened at the moral decay which mistook a mere ceremony for religion. It was burning autumn weather, when the sun had for months shone in a cloudless sky, and the early rains were longed for as the monsoons in India after the summer heat. Water at all times is a magic word in a sultry climate like Palestine, but at this moment it had a double power. Standing, therefore, to give His words more solemnity, His voice now sounded far and near over the throng, with soft clearness, which arrested all
If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink, for I will give him the living waters of Gods heavenly grace, of which the water you have now drawn from Shiloah is only, as your Rabbis tell you, a type. He that believes in Me drinks into his soul of My fulness, as from a fountain, the riches of divine grace and truth. Nor do they bring life to him alone who thus drinks. They become in his own heart, as the whole burden of Scripture tells, a living spring, which shall flow from his lips and life in holy words and deeds, quickening the thirsty around him.Geikie.
Come to the Well-spring of life. It is open to you all. Whosoever will may come. Jesus stands ready to satisfy your deepest longings.William Manning.
This chapter should be read in connection with the preceding, which determines its application to the times of Messiah. The peaceful state of the Church in Hezekiahs time is made the emblem of the peaceful era of the Gospel; as the Israelites who had been carried away in various invasions thus returned to their own country, so the nations should be gathered to the standard of Christ (Isa. 11:10-16).
I. The sources of consolation which God has opened up to the Church in the revelation of His Son. In a dry and thirsty land like thisin a world where there are so many sorrows arising from sin, and so many difficulties in our way to heavenwe need sources of supply, fountains of consolation. And in the Word of God we have them; wells of salvation, not running streams, not brooks, full in spring and dry in summer, but wells!
1. Christ is the great fountain (Joh. 7:37-38). When He was lifted up upon the cross, the fountain of grace that is in Him was opened, and healing streams shall never cease to flow from it, till the last weary pilgrim has reached the abodes of blessedness. Do we thirst for the pardon of sin? (Mat. 12:31). For the favour and friendship of God? (Mat. 5:6). For solid and spiritual happiness? (Isa. 55:1; Rev. 22:17).
2. The religion of Christ is a system of consolation and joy; it is the only one that deserves the name; all others work as with unmeaning ceremonies or unfounded expectations. All the parts of Christs religion, properly understood and personally enjoyed, promote solid comfort and true joy. Its doctrine (Rom. 5:11). Its promises (Psa. 97:11). Its precepts (Psa. 119:54). Its prospects (Rom. 5:2; H. E. I., 41614163).
3. God is the God of comfort. Christ is the consolation of Israel. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter. How ample are the sources of comfort and joy mentioned in this chapter!
(1.) The removal of a sense of divine displeasure (Isa. 12:1).
(2.) Hope of interest in Gods special favour as our covenant God (Isa. 12:2).
II. What is necessary to our personal appropriation of these comforts and joys [1006] Many persons, who appear to be disciples of Christ, are without the satisfaction which the text promises. They may be safe, but they are not happy (H. E. I., 306314). The fault is not in the Gospel: the promise is express, the provision is free, the invitation is open. If the Christian would know the joy of which the text speaks,
1. He must learn to set a higher value upon spiritual blessings. It is the order of divine procedure to awaken a high sense of the value of His gifts before He communicates them. Many seem indifferent whether they enjoy the higher blessings of religion or no. The saints in former times were more earnest (Psa. 42:1).
2. He must cultivate those graces of religion which are immediately connected with its enjoyments: humility of mind, a teachable spirit, a more spiritual order of affections (Psa. 25:9; Psa. 25:14; Col. 3:2; Php. 4:5-7).
3. Especially he must cultivate a prayerful spirit and expectant dependence upon divine illumination. Prayer is the key that opens the treasury of heaven (Psa. 34:5; Psa. 119:18). Neglect of the Spirits influences is a frequent cause of degeneracy and distress.
4. He must avoid whatever would hinder the life and power of religion; the secret love of sin, undue attachment to the world, prevalence of unholy tempers. It is a matter of perfect impossibility that the comforts of religion can be enjoyed where sin and inconsistency prevail. Is there no sin indulged, no self-dependence, no conformity to the world, no neglect of private duties? (Jer. 2:17-18). Heaven is the realm of perfect happiness, because it is the realm of perfect holiness.
5. He must diligently use all the appointed means of grace.
[1006] See H. E. I., 315352, 12521285.
III. Particular seasons when the prophetic promise is fulfilled. Private meditation, public ordinances, trouble, death, entrance into heaven.Samuel Thodey.
By the wells of salvation we may understand the means of grace [1009]
[1009] See H. E. I. 33093311, 34243465, 50755081.
I. These wells of salvation have been opened for the supply of human needs; not for Gods benefit, but for ours. What wells are to travellers through a desert, these are to us in our pilgrimage to Zion. II. Men should come to these wells for the purpose of having their needs supplied; not from habit, not that we may set a good example, &c., but that we ourselves may be refreshed and strengthened. III. No frequency in coming to these wells can be in any sense meritorious. Expose the mistake of the Pharisee and the Ritualist. The oftener we avail ourselves of them, the more we increase, not our claims upon God, but our obligation to Him; and the more should increase, not our pride and self-righteousness, but our thankfulness to God for His goodness in providing them. IV. The wells are nothing: the water in them is everything. A dry well, however deep it may be, or whatever historic associations may cluster around it, is worthless; and so are all religious ordinances apart from the Spirit of God. We must ever remember that they are means of gracechannels through which the God of all grace will satisfy the souls thirst of those who seek Him in sincerity and truth. V. Nevertheless we are not to stay away from the wells, nor despise them. That is a false spirituality that disparages divine ordinances. We are not to trust in the wells, yet neither are we to refuse to draw water out of them:
(1.) Because GOD opened them, and to neglect them is to charge Him with foolishly providing what we do not need.
(2.) Because it pleases Him to give us water through them; and we are to accept the blessing in whatever way He chooses to impart it to us. Naaman (2Ki. 5:11-13); the blind man (Joh. 9:6-7).
(3.) Because we need refreshment and reinvigoration day by day (Isa. 40:31; Psa. 84:7; H. E. I., 555, 556, 38663876).
(4.) Because our Master in the days of His flesh used the means of grace; no true Christian will seek in this respect to be above his Lord. VI. God has opened WELLS of salvation; not one, but many; none needlessly. We must use them all. Their benefit lies in their conjunction. For the production of a harvest, the sun and the rain are both needed; the sun alone would make a desert, the rain alone a swamp. No bird can fly with one wing, &c. We must read as well as pray, &c.
CONCLUDING LESSONS.
1. Why God sometimes leaves the wells dry. His people sometimes come so to delight in the means of grace, that they forget they are only means, and then He withholds His blessing, that they may be taught that He alone can satisfy their souls (Psa. 84:2; Psa. 62:5).
2. Why, when there is water in the wells, some are not quickened and refreshed.
(1.) Water revives the living, not the dead.
(2.) Some forget to bring their buckets. They have no real desires after God, no true faith in His power and willingness to bless them, and to each of them we may say, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the wells are deep (Joh. 4:11).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(3) Therefore with joy shall ye draw water . . .Literally, And with joy. The words may be either part of the hymn, or addressed to those who are to join in it. The latter seems most in harmony with the context. In the later ritual of the Feast of Tabernacles, the priests went in solemn procession to the Pool of Siloam, filled a golden vase with water, carried it to the Temple, and poured it out on the western side of the altar of burnt offering, while the people chanted the great Hallel (Hymn of Praise) of Psalms 113-118 (See Note on Joh. 7:37.) If we may assume that this represented the ritual of the monarchy, we may reasonably infer that the words of Isaiah pointed to it. The Talmud expressly connects the act with the symbolism of Isaiahs words (Jer. Succa, v. 1), and the prophets reference to the waters of Shiloah in Isa. 8:6, confirms the inference.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Draw water What gift so welcome, so precious, after experience in the Desert of Sinai?
Wells of salvation The inexhaustible riches of the Holy Spirit so the figure clearly means; so the ancient Jews applied it. Water, wells of water, or fountains, rivers, are terms indisputably used in the Old Testament for the satisfying gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Therefore with joy will you draw water out of the wells of salvation.’
Isaiah adds his comment to the song, and speaks to all. ‘You’ is here in the plural. Because of their wonderful deliverance they can all come continually to draw water from the wells of salvation. The spring-fed well was the basis of life for the Israelites. It was alongside wells that they built their cities. From wells they irrigated their crops. And now their saving God has provided a continual spring, welling up abundantly, from which to finalise what He has begun, so that as they live day by day with God they can continue drinking from the abundance of that spring (compare Joh 4:13-14).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
DISCOURSE: 880
THE WELLS OF SALVATION
Isa 12:3. With joy shall we draw water out of the wells of salvation.
WE wonder not that the Scriptures are read with so little interest by the generality: for, till persons know somewhat of their lost estate, and of the way of salvation provided for them, the Bible is to them a sealed book. But let them once experience a taste of the Redeemers love, and instantly they will find in the inspired volume mines of wealth. Such a storehouse is that blessed book to the godly in this day: and such will it be to the Jewish Church, when once they shall be converted to the faith of Christ. In that day they will say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. (Such will be the reflections at the time of their first discoveries of Gods mercy to them in Christ Jesus. Then they will advance farther to express their full confidence in God.) Behold, God is my salvation! I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. (Then will they be fully prepared to derive the richest benefit from the Scriptures: and) therefore shall they draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation.
That we may form a just estimate of their privilege, let us consider,
I.
The character by which the Scriptures are here designated
The expression, wells of salvation, is supposed by many to be spoken of Christ: and doubtless it may be very fitly applied to him. But I rather understand it of the Scriptures, from whence, as from an inexhaustible fountain, all true comfort flows. They eminently deserve that name,
1.
As containing in themselves all the blessings of salvation
[The whole of salvation, as planned in the Divine counsels from all eternity, as executed for us by the Lord Jesus Christ in his incarnate state, as still carrying on by him at the right hand of his Father, and as offered through him to every child of man, is there fully contained. This mystery of Godliness was indeed kept secret since the world began; but now it is made manifest; and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, is made known to all nations for the obedience of faith [Note: Rom 16:25-26.].
Now let any one contemplate this mystery, and endeavour to explore the wisdom, the love, the mercy, and the grace contained in it: how surpassing all finite comprehension will they be found! Verily, the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of this mystery, and of the wonders contained in it, are utterly unsearchable; and the blessings flowing from it are a plenteous and perennial spring, for the refreshment of all on earth, and of all in heaven.]
2.
As revealing them for our use
[In the whole world besides, there is not to be found one drop of water to satisfy a thirsty soul. Where can one look that is oppressed with a sense of guilt? Where, one who is mourning over the corruptions of his nature? Go to those who have not the Scriptures: go to even the wisest philosophers of Greece and Rome; and see how vain were all their expedients for pacifying a guilty soul, or purifying a polluted soul. But in the Scriptures we find all that a sinner can desire; an atonement sufficient for the sins of the whole world; and an Almighty Agent ready to dwell in the hearts of all who seek him, and engaged to transform into the divine image all who commit their souls to him. In them are promises suited to every condition incident to our fallen nature; as suited to refresh the soul, as water is to allay our thirst. Conceive of every want with which a sinner can be oppressed, and the appropriate relief will there be found.]
3.
As actually imparting them to our souls
[As a spring pours forth its waters, so do the Scriptures impart life, and peace, and strength, to all who go to them as Gods appointed channel of communication to their souls. They have within themselves a life-giving virtue [Note: Joh 4:10.]; so that, when brought home and applied by the Spirit of God, they quicken the dead, and give a vital energy to all our powers. They are able, not only to make men wise unto salvation [Note: 2Ti 3:15.], but to impart salvation itself; being like fire to consume dross, and a hammer to break the rock in pieces [Note: Jer 23:29.], and a two-edged sword to pierce the very inmost soul [Note: Heb 4:12.]. and a weapon to destroy every enemy [Note: 2Co 10:4-5.]. They have a power to enlighten the darkest mind [Note: Psa 19:7-8.], and to sanctify all on whom they operate aright [Note: Joh 15:3; Joh 17:19.]; and so to sanctify them, as to prepare them for the perfect fruition of their God [Note: Eph 5:26-27.].]
Think then of,
II.
The blessedness of having access to them
Truly we should never contemplate them but with joy, on account of,
1.
The freeness with which we may approach them
[There is no prohibition to any creature under heaven. About wells that have been dug for a supply of common water, there have been the fiercest contentions [Note: Gen 26:18-21.]: but these are public property, and equally accessible to all: none have to pay for this water, as Israel had [Note: Num 20:19.]: it is to be had without money and without price [Note: Isa 55:1.]. True indeed it is that there are many, protestants as well as papists, who would bar our access to them: but God has given to all an equal right to come to them: for his invitation is, Let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely [Note: Rev 22:17.].]
2.
The ease with which we may draw from them
[There are those who think it in vain for the poor to come to them, seeing that the wells are deep, and they have nothing to draw with [Note: Joh 4:11.]. But be it known, that however valuable learning may be for the attaining of a critical acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, it is not at all necessary for a spiritual perception of their truths. It is faith, and not learning, that is wanting for that end. All the learning in the universe will not impart to us a spiritual discernment, any more than it will furnish us with any corporeal organs. It is faith alone that will avail us here. That discerns the things which are not visible to mortal eyes; and will go to the very bottom of these wells, and draw from thence the most refreshing consolations.]
3.
The abundance that we may receive out of them
[When the rock was struck by Moses, the waters gushed out in such abundance, that the whole camp of Israel, with all their cattle, could drink thereof. And, if all the sinners in the universe will go to these wells, they shall find no lack for the supply of their most enlarged necessities. Our Lord says, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink; and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water [Note: Joh 7:37-38.]. Indeed, the more intense and ardent your thirst is, the more abundant shall be the blessings which you shall derive from them ]
4.
The perfect satisfaction that we may find in them
[Whoever drinks of other waters will thirst again: but whoever drinks of these wells, will never thirst: for the water which he has received will be in him as a well of water springing up into everlasting life [Note: Joh 4:13-14, Isa 49:9-10.]. I may appeal to all, whether the most copious draughts of carnal pleasure ever satisfied? Solomon, who drank as deep of it as a human being could do, pronounced it all to be vanity and vexation of spirit. The eye was never yet satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing. But he who has obtained the knowledge of Christ, and drunk deep of the promises of the Gospel, has no longer any relish for earthly vanities, nor any desire after them. Give him all the world, and he feels empty: give him the presence of God, and he desires no more.]
Address
1.
Those who are going to broken cisterns
[What is the creature but a broken cistern that can hold no water? And will you for this forsake the fountain of living waters [Note: Jer 2:13.]? Let me prevail on every one of you to go to God as your reconciled God in Christ Jesus, and to say with David, All my fresh springs are in thee [Note: Psa 87:7.].]
2.
Those who are drinking from the fountain of life [Note: Psa 36:9.]
[Say whether you have not a joy with which the stranger intermeddleth not? Say whether the fountains do not richly supply you; and whether, even on the highest places, which, according to human apprehension, are inaccessible to rivers, the rivers do not follow you [Note: Isa 41:17-18.]? Yes, till you arrive at heaven itself, the streams shall never fail; and even there shall they run beside you for your comfort to eternal ages [Note: Rev 7:17.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
DISCOURSE: 881
THE BELIEVERS SONG
Isa 12:3-6. With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
THE restoration of the Jews, and their union with the Gentiles under one head, the Lord Jesus Christ, is foretold so plainly by the inspired writers, that we have no doubt at all but that it shall be accomplished in due season. The prediction contained in the foregoing chapter is peculiarly full and express. It relates not to Judah only, but to the ten tribes also; who shall be brought from Assyria, as the other two tribes once were from Babylon. The ensign to which they will flock, is that of the Son of Jesse, the Lord Jesus [Note: Isa 11:10; Isa 11:12.]: and the joy excited in their breasts will be like that which their fathers felt at their deliverance from Egypt, when they beheld all their enemies dead upon the sea-shore.
The chapter before us is a song, which shall be sung on that occasion by the whole assembly of the Lords people: and in it we see,
I.
Their high privilege
The learned prelate to whom the world is so much indebted for his translation of the Prophecies of Isaiah, renders the first verse of our text, not, Therefore ye shall draw, but, When ye shall draw; which all will do in the day to which our text refers. But,
There are wells of salvation now open unto us
[Often is our blessed Lord and Saviour represented under the image of a well or fountain [Note: Psa 36:9. Zec 13:1. Another view of the subject is here taken, different from that in the preceding discourse. As the precise import of the wells is not determined in Scripture, it may be taken either way.] And he himself, in his conversation with the Samaritan woman, assumed, as it were, that title [Note: Joh 4:6-14.]. Moreover, the very passage from whence our text is taken was applied by him to himself.
At the feast of Tabernacles a custom obtained, which will fully illustrate our text. The people on the last day of that feast used to go in procession, and draw water from the pool of Siloam, and then to mix it with wine, and pour it on the sacrifices. There was no direction for this in the law of Moses; but the custom was instituted by the Jews themselves after their return from the Babylonish captivity, with a reference to this prophecy which we are now considering. On the day of this ceremony, Jesus stood in the place where the procession was passing, and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink [Note: Joh 7:37-40.]: as if he had said, I am the person spoken of by the Prophet, and the person whom ye profess to expect: and, if you will believe in me, I will give you my Holy Spirit in such abundance, as shall be effectual for your present peace, and your everlasting salvation. Indeed, his person, (as God-man,) his work, (even his whole obedience unto death,) his offices, (as our Great High Priest that makes atonement for us, our King that rules over us and in us, and our Prophet that guides us into all truth,) may all be considered as so many wells from whence our salvation flows Yea, his word also, and ordinances, may be considered in the same light, because from them we draw all the instruction, the grace, the consolation, that we stand in need of.]
From these we may draw water with joy
[Truly there is nothing which can conduce to our salvation, which is not to be found in Christ. The water that he will give us will cleanse us at once from all the guilt and defilement of sin: it will purify our very nature, so that we shall be renewed after the Divine image in righteousness and true holiness. From him all may draw. Not a sinner in the universe is so unworthy, but that he may come to Christ, and by faith receive from him whatsoever he stands in need of. The invitation is given to all who thirst: no qualification is required on their part, except an earnest desire, and a humble faith: they may take as much as they can wish freely, without money and without price [Note: Isa 55:1.]. They are not in the situation of Hagar, who when she relieved her sons thirst from the small vessel that she had taken, grudged, as it were, every drop that was expended, because she knew not where to obtain enough to satisfy his returning wants, which would speedily arise: they may come and draw with joy, knowing that the supply is inexhaustible, and perfectly commensurate with all their wants. The very first taste of this water shall so invigorate their souls, that they shall feel like a giant refreshed with wine: and every successive draught shall strengthen them with might in their inner man, and fill them, as it were, with all the fulness of God [Note: Eph 3:19.].]
But the true virtue of this fountain will be best seen in,
II.
Their heavenly employment
There is a remarkable difference between the two parts of this divine song: in that which precedes our text, the expressions relate entirely to the case of the individual himself; but, in the text, the individual rises to the concerns of others, and becomes, as it were, a preacher to all around him. Hence then we see the employment of all true Christians:
1.
They glorify God themselves
[The first thought of their hearts is that of humble gratitude for the unspeakable mercy of reconciliation with God. They look back, and see the innumerable offences whereby they have excited the displeasure of Almighty God, and how justly they might have been made monuments of his wrathful indignation. They contemplate the state of those who have died in their sins, and wonder that they themselves are not now taking their portion with them. They then contrast the happy state to which they themselves are brought through the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus: they behold God as reconciled to them through the blood of his cross; and with inexpressible comfort are enabled to address him by the endearing name of Father. In the view of these things they exclaim with profoundest adoration, O Lord, I will praise thee: for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me.
From thence they proceed to glory in God with unshaken affiance: for, What can they want, who have God himself for their salvation? If God be for them, who can be against them? Jehovah himself is their strength, dwelling in them, working in them mightily, and enabling them always to triumph in Christ. Shall he not then be their Song? Yes; they know in whom they have believed: they know his power, and love; his faithfulness and truth: and therefore, though on the field of battle, they assure themselves of victory, and anticipate with joy unspeakable the final issue of their conflicts. Not that they are blind to the difficulties which they have to encounter, or ignorant of the enemies they have to contend with: but they see Jehovah himself engaged for them by covenant and by oath; and in the confidence that he will never leave them nor forsake them, they say, I will trust and not be afraid; being confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun a good work in me will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ [Note: Php 1:6.].]
They stir up others to glorify him also
[Having a light kindled in their souls, they do not put it under a bushel, but set it on a candlestick, that others may see their light. They burn with zeal for God, and would gladly extend the knowledge of him to the ends of the earth. They are filled with love also to their fellow-creatures; and would not have one to perish, if by any means they might be instrumental to the salvation of his soul. Towards the household of faith in particular they feel an ardent desire to promote their advancement in all that is lovely and of good report. Hence they exhort one another to abound in praise and thanksgiving to their common Lord and Saviour: they urge one another to call upon him, to declare his name, to make known his love, to commend him to the whole world. They would have all to sing unto Him with thanksgiving and the voice of melody. They cannot endure the thought that an inhabitant of Zion should be silent; they would have every believer to cry out and shout, so that, were it possible, the whole universe might hear.
They remind each other of the great things which the Saviour has done, and is yet doing, for his Church and people. They delight to speak of the excellent things which he has done, in assuming our nature, and dying in our stead, and working out for us a free and full salvation: and they rejoice no less to contemplate, how great the Holy One of Israel is in the midst of them, and how certainly he will put clown all their enemies, and bruise Satan himself under their feet.
These are things which are the daily subject of their thoughts, their conversation, and their praise: and in proportion as any are endued with his grace, they will infallibly abound in these holy exercises.]
Learn then from hence,
1.
How great a matter is the salvation of the soul
[Many think of it as a matter of course but not so the person who has been taught of God: he sees that it is a miracle of mercy that any child of man is saved. That he himself has obtained mercy, is to the true Christian a source of wonder and amazement. That God should ever look upon him, and pardon him, and save him! he knows not how to express his sense of such amazing love. He would have the rocks and hills to break forth into singing, and all the trees of the wood to clap their hands with joy. And if we have never thus been penetrated with a sense of Gods unbounded love, we are yet strangers to the salvation he has wrought out for us.]
2.
How precious is Christ to all who know him
[Mere nominal Christians can think and speak of him without emotion; but not so the persons who have tasted of his grace: they can never find words whereby to express their love and gratitude to their adorable Benefactor. They are ashamed that they can ever think or speak of any thing else. To them indeed he is precious; and, if they could have their desire, they would love him, and serve him, and glorify him, on earth, even as the glorified saints are doing it in heaven. Is this your experience, my beloved Brethren? Does the whole universe appear to you but as a broken cistern, and is Christ the only fountain from whence you desire to draw? O that you may be able more and more to say, All my fresh springs are in thee [Note: Psa 87:7.]!]
3.
How happy is the Christians state
[Doubtless there is a great diversity in mens attainments: there are babes, and young men, and fathers in the family of Christ. But in this there is a resemblance among them all: they are full of gratitude to their incarnate God: and all their hope is in his power and grace. They are also active in diffusing the knowledge of him. They will not spend their time in disputing about matters of doubtful disputation, whether relating to doctrines, or to sects and parties, but will labour to promote the glory of their God. Whether they be ministers or not, they will all be priests in their own families, and all be anxious to guide their friends and neighbours to the knowledge of the truth. Having experienced the life-giving virtue of that fountain, will they see their neighbours perishing with thirst, and not point it out? No: they will desire that others should receive out of the fulness that is in Christ, and would have all flesh to see the salvation of God.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
There is a great beauty in some of our old Bibles, which express this phrase of drawing water, as if it were out of the wells of the Saviour. Everything of grace is fetched by faith from Christ, and is in Christ. Ordinances are nothing without Jesus; and it is Christ himself; and not means of grace, however pure they are in themselves, that are the fountain and well of the soul. Hence the Church sings: A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon is my beloved! Son 4:15 . Hence also, Jesus to the Samaritan woman, said, that the water he gave, should be in his people, a well of living water, springing up into everlasting life! Joh 4:14 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Ver. 3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water. ] Joy is the just man’s portion, and Christ is the never failing fountain whence by a lively faith he may infallibly fetch it. Joh 4:10 ; Joh 4:14 ; Joh 7:37 Christ was much delighted with this metaphor; see Joh 1:16 . Out of this fountain only may men quench their spiritual thirst after righteousness. Haec sola est aqua quae animas arentes, marentes et squalidas reficit, et recreat. a These wells of salvation are those “words of eternal life,” Joh 6:68 the rich and “precious promises,” 2Pe 1:4 “whereby we are made partakers of the divine nature,” and of the Holy Spirit, which is frequently and fitly compared to water in regard of (1.) Ablution ; Eze 36:25 (2.) of Fructification ; Job 8:11 Isa 35:6-7 ; Isa 44:3-4 and (3.) of Refrigeration . Psa 42:1 Rom 5:5 Some think the prophet here alludeth to those softly running waters of Shiloah, Isa 8:6 or to the rock water that followed them in the wilderness, or to that famous fountain, Num 21:16-18 whence they drew waters with so much mirth and melody.
a Sanchez.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah
THE WELL-SPRING OF SALVATION
Isa 12:3
There are two events separated from each other by more than fifteen hundred years which have a bearing upon this prophecy: the one supplied the occasion for its utterance, the other claimed to be its interpretation and its fulfilment. The first of these is that scene familiar to us all, where the Israelites in the wilderness murmured for want of water, and the law-giver, being at his wits’ end what to do with his troublesome charges, took his anxieties to God, and got for an answer the command to take with him the elders of Israel and his miracle-working rod, and to go to the rock, ‘and the Lord shall stand upon the rock before thee and them, and the water shall flow forth.’ It was not the rock, nor the rod, nor Moses and the elders, but the presence of God that brought the refreshing draught. And that that incident was in Isaiah’s mind when he wrote our text is very clear to anybody who will observe that it occurs in the middle of a song of praise, which corresponds to the Israelites’ song at the Red Sea after the destruction of Pharaoh, and is part of a great prophecy in which he describes God’s future blessings and mercies under images constantly drawn from the Egyptian bondage and the Exodus in the desert. Now, that interpretation, or rather that application, of the words of my text, was very familiar to the Jews long, long before the New Testament was thought about. For, as many of you will know, there came in the course of time a number of ceremonies to be added to a feast established by Moses himself-the Feast of Tabernacles. That was a feast in which the whole body of the Israelitish people dwelt for a week in leafy booths, in order to remind them of the time when they were wanderers in the wilderness; and as is usually the case, the ritual of the celebration developed a number of additional symbolical observances which were tacked on to it in the course of centuries. Amongst these there was this very memorable one: that on each of the days of the Feast of Tabernacles, at a given point in the ceremonial, the priests went from the temple, winding down the rocky path on the temple mountain, to the Pool of Siloam in the valley below, and there in their golden vases they drew the cool sparkling water, which they bore up, and amidst the blare of trumpets and the clash of cymbals poured it on the altar, whilst the people chanted the words of my text, ‘With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.’
That ceremonial had been going on for eight hundred years from Isaiah’s time; and once more the period came round when it was to be performed; and on the seven days of the feast, punctually at the appointed time, the procession wound down the rocky slopes, drew the water in the golden vases, bore it up to the temple, and poured it upon the altar; and on the last great day of the feast, the same ceremonial went on up to a given point; and just as the last rites of the chant of our text were dying on the ears, there was a little stir amidst the crowd, which parted to make way for him, and a youngish man, of mean appearance and rustic dress, stepped forward, and there, before all the gathered multitudes and the priests standing with their empty urns, symbol of the impotence of their system, ‘on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.’ Brethren, such a commentary, at such a time, from such a commentator, may well absolve me from the necessity of enforcing the evangelistic bearing of the words of my text. And so, then, with that understanding of the deepest meaning of these words that we have to look at, I ask you to take them in the simplest possible way, and to consider three points: the Well of Salvation, the Act of Drawing the Water, the Gladness of those that draw. ‘With joy shall ye draw water out of the fountains of salvation.’
Now, with regard to the first point, let me remind you to begin with, that the idea of the word here is not that which we attach to a well, but that which we attach to a spring. It does not describe the source of salvation as being a mere reservoir, still less as being a created or manufactured thing; but there lies in it the deep idea of a source from which the water wells up by its own inward energy. Then, when we have got that explanation, and the deep, full, pregnant meaning of the word salvation as a thing past, a thing present, a thing future, a thing which negatively delivers a man from all sin and sorrow, and a thing which positively endows a man with beauty, happiness, and holiness-when we have got that, then the question next cries aloud for answer-this well-spring of salvation, is-what? Who? And the first answer and the last answer is GOD-GOD HIMSELF. It is no mere bit of drapery of the prophet’s imagery, this well-spring of salvation; it is something much more substantial, much deeper than that. You remember the old psalm, ‘With Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy light shall we see light’; and what David and John after him called life, Isaiah and Paul after him calls salvation. And you remember too, no doubt, the indictment of another of the prophets, laying hold of the same metaphor in order to point to the folly and the suicide of all godless living: ‘My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and they have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns.’ They were manufactured articles, and because they were made they could be cracked, but the fountain, because it rises by its own inherent energy, springing up into everlasting life, is all-sufficient. God Himself is the well-spring of salvation.
If I had time to enlarge upon this idea, I might remind you how nobly and blessedly that principle is confirmed when we think of this great salvation, past, present, and future, negative and positive, all-sufficient and complete, as having its origin in His deep nature, as having its process in His own finished work, and as being in its essence the communication of Himself. That last thing I should like to say a word or two about. If there is a man or a woman that thinks of salvation as if it were merely a shutting up of some material hell, or the dodging round a corner so as to escape some external consequence of transgression, let him and her hear this: the possession of God is salvation, that and nothing else. To have Him within me, that is to be saved; to have His life in His dear Son made the foundation of my life, to have my whole being penetrated and filled with God, that is the essence of the salvation that is in Jesus Christ. And because it comes unmotived, uncaused, self-originated, springing up from the depths of His own heart; because it is all effected by His own mighty work who has trodden the winepress alone, and, single-handed, has wrought the salvation of the race; and because its essence and heart is the communication of God Himself, and the bestowing upon us the participation in a divine nature, therefore the depth of the thought, God Himself is the well-fountain of salvation.
But there is still another step to take. If these things which I have only just been able to glance at in the most superficial, and perhaps, therefore, confused manner, in any measure commend themselves to your judgments and your consciences, let me ask you to go with me one step further, and to figure to yourselves the significance and the strangeness of that moment to which I have already referred, when a man stood up in the temple court, and, with distinct allusion to the whole of the multitude of Old Testament sayings, in which God and the communication of God’s own energy were represented as being the fountain of salvation and the salvation from the fountain, and said, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto Me.’ Why, what a thing-let us put it into plain, vulgar English-what a thing for a man to say-’If any man thirst.’ Who art Thou that dost thus plant Thyself opposite the race, sure that Thou hast no needs like them, but, contrariwise, canst refresh and satiate the thirsty lips of them all? Who art Thou that dost proclaim Thyself as sufficient for the fruition of the mind that yearns for truth and thirsts for certitude, of the parched heart that wearies and cracks for want of love, of the will that longs to be rightly and lovingly commanded? Oh, dear brethren, not only the Titanic presumption of proposing oneself as enough for a single soul, but the inconceivable madness of proposing oneself as enough for all the race in all generations to the end of time, except on one hypothesis, marks this utterance of Him who has also said, ‘I am meek and lowly of heart.’ Strange lowliness! singular meekness! Who was He? Who is this that steps into the place that only a God can fill, and says, ‘I can do it all. If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink’?
Dear brethren, some of us can, thank God, answer that question as I pray that every one of you may be able to answer it, ‘Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ; Thou art the everlasting son of the Father. With Thee is the fountain of life; Thou Thyself art the living water.’
But I think there is a still further step to be taken. It is not only that our Lord Jesus Christ, in His nature, in His person, is the communicator of the divine life to man, just as-if you will let me take such a metaphor-just as up in the hills sometimes you will find some little tarn or loch all shut in; but having trickling from it a thread of limpid life, and, wherever it flows, the water of the loch goes; only, the one is lake and the other is river, and the latter is the medium of communication of the former to the thirsty pastures of the wilderness. And not only so, but-if I might venture to build upon a word of the context-there seems to be another consideration there. The words which precede my text are a quotation from a song of the Israelites in their former Exodus: ‘The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation.’ Now, if our Bible has been correct-and I do not enter upon that question-in emphasising the difference between is and is become , mark where it takes us. It takes us to this, that there was some single, definite, historical act wherein God became in an eminent manner and in reality what He had always been in purpose, intent, and idea. Then that to which my text originally alludes, to which it looks back, is the great deliverance wrought by the banks of the Red Sea. It was because Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in it that Miriam and her musical sisters, with their timbrel and dance, not only said, ‘The Lord is my strength,’ but ‘He has become my strength’-there where the corpses are floating yet. What answers to that in the matter with which we are concerned? Brethren, it is not enough to say that God is the fountain of salvation, it is not enough to say that the Incarnate Christ is the medium of salvation. Will you take the other step with us, and say that the Cross of Christ is the realisation of the divine intention of salvation? Then He, who from everlasting was the strength and song of all the strong and the songful, is become the salvation of all the lost, and the fountain is ‘opened for sin and for uncleanness.’ A definite, historical act, the manifestation of Jesus Christ, is the bringing to man of the salvation of God. So much, then, for that first point to which I desired to ask your attention.
And now let me say a word or two as to the second. I wish to speak about this process of drawing from the fountain. That metaphor, without any further explanation, might very naturally suggest more idea of human effort than in reality belongs to it. Men have said: ‘Yes; no doubt God is the fountain of salvation; no doubt Christ is the river of salvation; no doubt His death is the opening of the fountain for sin and for uncleanness; but how am I to bring myself into contact and connection with it?’ And there have been all sorts of answers. Every kind of pump has been resorted to. Go up to the Agricultural Hall and you will see no end of contrivances for bringing water to the surface. There are not so many there as men have found out for themselves to bring the water of salvation to their lips, and the effect has always been the same. There has been something wrong with the valves; the pump has not worked properly; there has been something wrong with the crank; the pipe has not gone down to the water; and there has been nothing but a great jingling of empty buckets, and aching and wearied elbows, and what the woman said to Christ has been true all round, ‘Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.’ Ay! thank God, it is deep; and if we let our Lord be His own interpreter, we have only to put together three sayings of His in order to come to the true meaning of this metaphor. My text says, ‘With joy ye shall draw water’; and Christ, sitting at the well of Samaria-what a strange combination of the weakness and the weariness of manhood and the strength and self-consciousness of Divinity was there!-wearied with His journey, said, ‘If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him and He would have given thee living water.’ So, then, drawing is asking. That is step number one.
Take another word of the Master’s that I have already quoted for other purposes, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.’ So, then, drawing, or asking, or coming are all equivalent. That is step number two.
And, then, take another word. ‘He that cometh unto Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.’ So, then, drawing, asking, coming, all melt into the one simple word-believing. Trust in Him, and thou hast come, thou hast asked, thou hast drawn, thou dost possess.
But whilst I would lay the foundation thus broad, thus simple, do not forget, dear brethren, what I was saying about a definite historical act. You will hear people say, ‘Oh, I trust in Christ!’ What do you trust in Christ? You will hear people say, ‘Oh, I look to the goodness of God.’ Be it so. God forbid I should say a word to prevent that; but what I would insist upon is that a mere vague regard to a vague Christ is not the faith that is equivalent to drawing from the fountain of salvation. There must be a further object in a faith that saves. It must lay hold of the definite historical act in which Christ has become the salvation of the world.
Do not take it upon my words, take it upon His own. He once said to His fellow-countrymen in His lifetime, ‘I am the living bread’; and many of our modern teachers would go that length heartily. Was that where Christ stopped? By no means. Was His Gospel a gospel of incarnation only? Certainly not. ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven.’ Anything more? Yes; this more, ‘and the bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. He that eateth Me he shall live by Me.’ ‘Well,’ say some people, ‘that means following His example, accepting His teaching, being loyal to His Person, absorbing His Spirit.’ Yes, it means all that; but is that all it means? Take His own commentary: ‘He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life.’ Yes, brethren, a Christ incarnate, blessed be God! A Christ crucified, blessed be God! And not the one but both must be the basis of our faith and our hope.
Now, will you let me say one thing about this matter of drawing the water? It is an act of faith in a whole Jesus, and eminently in the mighty act and sacrifice of His Cross. But to go back again to the context: ‘He also is become my salvation. ‘That is what I desire, God helping me, to lay on the hearts of all my hearers-that a definite act of faith in Christ crucified is not enough unless it is a personal act, unless it is what our old Puritan forefathers used to call ‘appropriating faith.’ Never mind about the somewhat dry and technical phraseology; the thing is what I insist upon-’ my salvation.’ O brother! what does it matter though all Niagara were roaring past your door; you might die of thirst all the same unless you put your own lips to it. Down on your knees like Gideon’s men; it is safest there; that is the only attitude in which a man can drink of this fountain. Down on your knees and put your lips to it-your very own lips-and drink for your own soul’s salvation. Christ died for the world. Yes; but the world for which Christ died is made up of individuals who were in His heart. It is Paul’s words that I would beseech you to make your own: ‘The Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me .’ Every one of you is entitled to say that, if you will. You remember that verse filled with adoring contemplation that we sometimes sing, one word in which seems to me to be coloured by the too sombre doctrine of the epoch from which it came:-
‘My soul looks back to see
The burden Thou didst bear,
When hanging on the accursed tree,
And knows her guilt was there.’
Now, I have left myself no time to do more than say one word about that last point, the gladness of the water-drawers. It is a pretty picture in our text, full of the atmosphere and spirit of Eastern life: the cheery talk and the ringing laughter round the village well, where the shepherds with their flocks linger all day long, and the maidens from their tents come-a kind of rude Exchange in the antique world; and, says our prophet, ‘As the dwellers in the land at their village springs, so ye, the weary travellers at “the eye of the desert,” will draw with gladness.’ So we have this joy.
Dear brethren, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is meant for something better than to make us glad, but it is meant to make us glad too, and he is but a very poor Christian who has not found that it is the joy and rejoicing of his heart. We need not put too much emphasis and stress upon that side of the truth; but we need not either suppress it or disregard it in our modern high-flown disinterestedness. There are joys worth calling so which only come from possessing this fountain of salvation. How shall I enumerate them? The best way, I think, will be to quote passages.
There is the gladness of forgiven sin and a quieted conscience: ‘Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.’ There is the joy of a conscious possession of God: ‘Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day.’ There is the joy of fellowship and communion with Jesus Christ and His full presence: ‘I will see you again; and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh away from you.’ There is the joy of willing obedience: ‘I delight to do Thy will.’ ‘It is joy to the just to do judgment.’ There is the joy of a bright hope of an inheritance ‘incorruptible,’ ‘wherein ye greatly rejoice,’ and there is a joy which, like that Greek fire they talk about, burns brighter under water, and glows as the darkness deepens-a joy which is independent of circumstances, and can say, ‘Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.’
And all that, brother and friend, may be yours and mine; and then what this same prophet says may also be true: ‘The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads’-that is for the pilgrimage; ‘They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away’-that is for the home. There is another prophecy in this same book of Isaiah: ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters’; that was the voice of the Christ in prophecy. There is a saying spoken in the temple courts: ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink’; that was the voice of the Christ upon earth. There is a saying at the end of Scripture-almost the last words that the Seer in Patmos heard: ‘Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely’; that was the voice of the Christ from the throne. And the triple invitation comes to every soul of man in the world, and to thee, and thee, and thee, my brother. Answer, answer as the Samaritan woman did: ‘Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither’ any more to draw of the broken cisterns.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
salvation. Reference to Pentateuch (Gen 49:18. Exo 14:13; Exo 15:2. Deu 32:15). App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The Wells of Salvation
Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.Isa 12:3.
This verse is taken from the Psalm of Redemption. It is welcome as a song in the night, full of charm, full of suggestion. It thrills the heart with the joy of a great discovery, the rapture of a great triumph. It is all the more welcome because of its startling contrast with the lurid and dreadful passages, full of condemnation and human catastrophe, which precede it. As you read you seem to stand in the pathway of storm, earthquake, and ruin. The fountains of the great deep are broken up. Panic seizes upon the soul. There seems to be no escape, as the prophet lays upon the conscience the awful burden of the wrath of God. The wrath of God! We do not talk much of it now, yet it is an eternal factor in the government of human life, and in the shaping of human destiny. Let us not bind ourselves with mock comforting. Then the prophet breaks into this psalm. He bids us come from Sinais stern heights to Calvarys gentler slopes.
The text looks two ways. It looks backwards to an event which happened seven hundred and fifty years before Isaiah lived; and it looks forwards to an event which happened seven hundred and fifty years after Isaiah died.
The verse immediately preceding is quoted from the song which Moses and the Children of Israel sang after the crossing of the Red Sea (Exo 15:2). Very soon after that event they came to Elim, where were twelve springs of water, and three score and ten palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters (Exo 15:27). The text may be safely understood as a reference to these twelve springs of water. In course of time there grew up the custom among the Israelites of keeping a feast in memory of these wilderness experiences, which was called the Feast of Tabernacles. The whole nation left their homes and resided for an entire week in booths or tents made of the green leaves and goodly branches of the palm tree. It was a feast of joy, for it was also associated with the ingathering of the years produce of corn and wine and oil. On the last day of the feast, its great day, the priests were accustomed to form a procession, arrayed in the white robes of their office. The Temple band marched in front, and to the sound of the timbrel and the note of the silver trumpet, they passed through the Water Gate, down the magnificent flight of steps, round the terrace, and along the rocky slopes of the hill of Zion, till they reached the pool of Siloam. Each separate priest produced a golden vase, and, stooping down, filled it from the quiet pool, lifted it upon his shoulder and fell back into rank. To the march of music the procession returned to the Temple and formed a circle round the altar. As each priest emptied his golden vase upon the sacrifice, the Levites chanted the words, Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
One day, at the conclusion of this ceremony, Jesus stepped out of the crowd which filled the Temple courts, and stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
I
What is Salvation?
Salvation is three things; and it needs all the three to make it complete.
1. It is Escape. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. It is escape from that curse. Christ hath delivered us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee. It is a hiding-place from the storm.
2. It is Deliverance. It is not only escape from the penalty of sin, it is escape from the sin itself. If a drunkard falls asleep in the street on a cold night in winter he is in danger of death from exposure. Rouse him and take him home, and you rescue him from the penalty of his drunkenness. But you do a greater thing for him than that if you persuade him to sign the pledge and deliver him from his drinking habit.
One of the true histories of conversion which Mr. Harold Begbie writes in his book, entitled Broken Earthenware, is the history of Old Born Drunk. He was a true Miserable, lower than anything to be found among barbarous nations, debased almost out of humanity. Brought to a meeting, he heard some one testify. While I was listening to Joe, he said, thinking of what hes been, and seeing what hes become, all of a sudden it took me that Id find God and get Him to make me like Joe. It took me like that. I just felt, all of a sudden, determined to find God. Determined, he repeated, with energy astonishing in this broken and hopeless creature of alcoholism. He tasted drink no more. God has taken all the desire for it, he explained, clean away from me.
3. It is Endowment. This is the positive side of salvation. Besides escape from the penalty, besides deliverance from the tyranny of sin, there is the gift of holiness. The love of God is shed abroad in the heart. The sinner walks in newness of life. The endowment is in one word the Holy Spirit. Then the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and all the rest of the gifts of grace.
For thirteen years I preached to my beloved people at Newcastle. I gave them upwards of two thousand sermons on salvationfor I never preach about anything else. I went back the other night to preach to my own folk, and as I went up the pulpit steps I was overwhelmed with the thought, not that it was difficult to find anything new to say, but with the thought that I had left so much unsaid.1 [Note: A. T. Guttery, in Christian World Pulpit, lxxvii. p. 69.]
II
The Wells of Salvation
1. The use of water as a figure for salvation is most appropriate. For water is not merely a refreshing luxury, it is a necessity of existence. In the East it is felt to be a necessity every day. As a consequence, in the gradual conquest of the land of Canaan, the question of possessing and holding the wells, the places of drawing water, was of especial importance. To hold the wells was to hold the keys of the position; it was, in fact, to subdue and hold the country.
2. It is appropriate, further, because in the East, however it may be in the West, water is recognised as the gift of God. Listen to the water-seller passing through the streets of Cairo or Alexandria with his water-skins. What is his cry? It is not Water, water, it is The gift of God, the gift of God.
Though, when in the midst of the desert and surrounded by blinding white sand-dunes, the very idea of water seems absurd, and its existence impossibly remote, yet it is often present at a distance of only a few yards underfoot. This secret reservoirso tantalisingly close, so difficult of attainmentof what in the desert are veritably the waters of life, is a phenomenon which has always haunted the Arab imagination, and has expressed itself in all kinds of legends and quaint theories and explanations. One tradition relates, what was no doubt the case, that the earliest oases grew round springs of naturally flowing water. These in time became gradually exhausted, and on this happening the Marabouts, or priests, confronted with a danger that menaced the existence of the tribes, united in offering up solemn prayers to the Almighty for guidance. It was in answer to these prayers that the existence of the underground supply of water was revealed, and the idea of tapping it by boring wells was suggested as a direct inspiration from heaven.1 [Note: L. March Phillips, In the Desert, p. 166.]
3. What, then, are the wells or springs of salvation? Let the psalmist answer: All my springs are in thee (Psa 87:7). But Isaiah himself is very clear. In the verse immediately before the text he says: Behold, God is my salvation. God Himself is the well of salvation, and there is none beside. But God is infinite variety as well as inexhaustible fulness. All the springs from which salvation in any measure and in any form flows to the thirsty lips of men are in God Himself.
But, God being the true fountain of salvation, notice that Jesus Christ plainly and decisively puts Himself in the place that belongs to God: If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. Think of the extraordinary claims involved in that invitation. Here is a man who plants Himself over against the whole of the human race, and professes that He can satisfy every thirst of every soul through all the ages. Every craving of heart and mind, all longings for love and wisdom, for purity and joy, for strength and guidance, He assumes to be able to slake by the gift of Himself. Moses sinned when He said, Must we fetch water out of this rock? and expiated that sin by death. But his presumption was modesty compared with the unheard-of assumptions of the meek and lowly Christ. There is but one hypothesis by which the character of Jesus can be saved, if He ever said anything like these wordsand that is that He who speaks them is God manifest in the flesh, the everlasting Son of the Father.
Isaiah refers to the Song of Moses and says, The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Then St. Paul comes and interprets Isaiah and says, They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give
The living water; thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink, and live:
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.
III
The Drawing of Water
How are we to draw water from the wells of salvation?
1. By Prayer. And prayer is asking. To the Samaritan woman Jesus said, Thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. Prayer is coming. To the crowds in the Temple He said, Let him come unto me, and drink. Prayer is believing. To the listeners by the Sea of Galilee He said, He that believeth on me shall never thirst.
2. By the Word and Sacraments. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption are His ordinances, especially the word, sacraments and prayer. How the Word and Prayer are associated Dr. Whyte shows by quoting from MCheynes Letter to a Boy. You read your Bible regularly, of course; but do try to understand it, and still more to feel it. Read more parts than one at a time. For example, if you are reading Genesis, read a Psalm also; or if you are reading Matthew, read a small bit of an Epistle also. Turn the Bible into Prayer. And how the Word and the Sacraments agree together he shows by quoting the old Scotch preacher, Bruce. It wald be speered, Quherefore are sacraments annexed, seeing we gat na mair in the sacrament nor we get in the word? Thy hart cannot wist nor imagine a greater gift nor to have the Sonne of God, quha is King of heaven and earth. And, therefore, I say, quhat new thing wald thou have? The sacrament is appointed that we may get a better grip of Christ nor we get in the simple word. The sacraments are appointed that I might have Him mair fullie in my saul; that He might make the better residence in me. This, na doubt, is the cause quherefore thir seales are annexed to the evident of the simple word.
The Samaritan woman said, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. But she was altogether mistaken. For as long as we are in the body we will thirst. And the oftener we have been at the ordinances before, drawing water, the greater will be our longing to come again. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing (Psa 126:1-2).
Why? Because once more they would have the opportunity of ascending the hill of Zion for Gods worship. It was because he had been there before that the psalmist said, I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord (Psa 122:1).
Many years ago some skylarks were liberated on Long Island, and they became established there, and may now occasionally be heard in certain localities. One summer day a lover of birds journeyed out from the city in order to observe them. A lark was soaring and singing in the sky above him. An old Irishman came along and suddenly stopped as if transfixed to the spot. A look of mingled delight and incredulity came into his face. Was he indeed hearing the bird of his youth? He took off his hat and turned his face skyward, and with moving lips and streaming eyes stood a long time regarding the bird. Ah, thought the student of science, if I could only hear that song with his ears! To the man of science it was only a bird-song to be critically compared with a score of others, but to the other it brought back his youth and all those long-gone days on his native hills.1 [Note: L. A. Banks, in Homiletic Review, xxxix. p. 337.]
IV
With Joy
1. The discovery of the well is an occasion of joy. Professor William James defines conversion. His definition is a conclusion drawn from the experience of a multitude of persons who had been converted. This is his definition: Conversion is the process, gradual or sudden, by which a self hitherto divided, and consciously wrong inferior and unhappy, becomes unified, and consciously right superior and happy, in consequence of its firmer hold upon religious realities.2 [Note: Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 189.] The Philippian jailer rejoiced in God, believing with all his house.
The opening of a well is a time of rejoicing. The night is passed in dancing and festivity. A goat is sacrificed at the mouth of the well. The Sheyks and Marabouts of Tamerna, and the leading men of the neighbouring villages, gather round it to recite their prayers. The musicians of Tuggurt and Temacin range themselves in the midst. The young girls surround them dancing. The men, according to their wont, fire their guns in the air. All the inhabitants give themselves up to a manifestation of triumph and delight, such as only those, perhaps, who are acquainted by experience with what the word water means in the desert can understand.3 [Note: L. March Phillips, In the Desert, p. 137.]
2. And every time that we come hither to draw is a time of rejoicing, until the Christian character becomes a character of joy. Phillips Brooks points out that there is often a buoyancy and freshness in indifferent, unregenerate and thoughtless people which may be woefully lacking in intelligent, conscientious and patient men. The intelligent man turns into a pedant, the conscientious man turns into a drudge, the patient man grovels like a worm. We look for the interest of life, he says, not from them but from their opposites, from the man who owns no rigid service to duty and who lightly tosses off all his burdens. What is wanting? Is it more levity? No, he says, it is more profoundness. Is it less seriousness? No, it is more. These people are too good for the life of butterflies, but the secret of their dreariness is that they are still not good enough. They have not reached the central seriousness of living, wherein is joy and brightness and perpetual enthusiasm.
The Wells of Salvation
Literature
Askew (E. A.), The Service of Perfect Freedom, 94.
Bonar (A. A.), Wayside Wells, 97.
Brooks (P.), The More Abundant Life, 122.
Ingram (W. C.), Happiness in the Spiritual Life, 98.
Little (J.), The Bay-Spring, 175.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Isaiah i.xlviii., 64.
Maclaren (A.), The Secret of Power, 212.
Christian World Pulpit, viii. 408 (Maclaren); lxxvii. 68 (Guttery).
Contemporary Pulpit, 2nd Ser., v. 266 (Woods).
Examiner, JulyDecember 1905, 584 (Jowett).
Homiletic Review, xxxix. 169 (Reid).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
with joy: Isa 49:10, Isa 55:1-3, Psa 36:9, Son 2:3, Jer 2:13, Joh 1:16, Joh 4:10-14, Joh 7:37-39, Rev 7:17, Rev 22:1, Rev 22:17
Reciprocal: Exo 15:27 – Elim Num 21:16 – Gather Num 29:35 – eighth day Deu 12:18 – rejoice Deu 27:7 – rejoice Jdg 5:11 – in the places 1Sa 2:1 – I rejoice 1Ch 11:17 – of the water Psa 9:14 – I will Psa 32:10 – but Psa 87:7 – all my Isa 30:19 – thou shalt Isa 41:18 – General Luk 1:47 – God Joh 7:38 – out Joh 7:39 – this spake Joh 14:1 – ye Phi 3:1 – rejoice 1Pe 1:6 – ye greatly Rev 8:10 – the fountains Rev 21:6 – I will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 12:3. Therefore Because the Lord Jehovah is your strength and song, and is, and will be, your salvation; with joy shall ye draw water, &c. The assurances God has given you of his love, and the experience you have had of the benefit and comfort of his grace, should greatly encourage your faith in him, and your expectations from him. Out of the wells of salvation Your thirsty and fainting souls shall be filled with divine graces and comforts; which you shall plentifully draw from God, in the use of gospel ordinances, and which are often signified by water, both in the Old and in the New Testament. He seems to allude to the state of Israel in the wilderness, where, when they had been tormented with thirst, they were greatly refreshed and delighted with those waters which God so graciously and wonderfully afforded them in that dry and barren land, Num 20:11; Num 21:16-18. As this hymn evidently appears by its whole tenor, and by many expressions in it, to be much better calculated for the Christian Church than it could be for the Jewish, in any circumstances, or at any time that can be assigned; so the Jews themselves seem to have applied it to the times of the Messiah. On the last day of the feast of tabernacles, they fetched water, in a golden pitcher, from the fountain of Siloah, springing at the foot of mount Sion, without the city; they brought it through the water-gate into the temple, and poured it, mixed with wine, on the sacrifice as it lay upon the altar, with great rejoicing. They seem to have taken up this custom, for it is not ordained in the law of Moses, as an emblem of future blessings, in allusion to this passage of Isaiah: Ye shall draw water with joy from the fountains of salvation: expressions that can hardly be understood of any benefits afforded by the Mosaic dispensation. Our Saviour applied the ceremony, and the intention of it, to himself, and to the effusion of the Holy Spirit, promised and to be given by him. Thus Bishop Lowth, who quotes a passage from the Jerusalem Talmud to show that the Jews thought this song to be intended of the times of the Messiah, and considered the water, said to be drawn from the wells of salvation, as signifying the influences of the Holy Spirit to be given in his days.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye {c} draw water out of the wells of salvation.
(c) The graces of God will be so abundant that you may receive them in as great plenty as waters out of a fountain that is full.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Water is a rich symbol of salvation, especially to a people who lived in a land as dry as Palestine. God had provided salvation in the form of water for the Israelites during their wilderness march (Exo 15:27; Exo 17:1-7). In the future, Israelites could anticipate securing His salvation and sharing it with others, specifically the Gentiles (cf. Psa 116:13). This verse became a common saying among the Jews and led to a water-drawing ceremony in Jerusalem (cf. Joh 4:15; Joh 7:37-38). Water represents everything necessary for supporting life.