And in that day thou shalt say, Jehovah, I will praise thee; for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou hast comforted me.
Isaiah 11 describes a King reigning and a scattered people brought home. Chapter 12 is what those people say when it happens. This verse is their song. Its first line looks back at something painful — a God who had been angry — and calls it over.
A repeated phrase dates this song. It ties it to the scene the prophet has just described.
Isaiah 12 is clearly prophetic, and finds special application to Israel in millennial days. You can see this by tracing its link with the chapter before. Both chapters use the phrase "In that day" twice. The phrase points to the restoration of God's earthly people to their own land. It also points to the state of things that goes with Messiah's reign, described in Isaiah 11.
The singer does not soften what God had been toward him. He names the anger, calls it deserved, and then names what took its place.
Israel will receive redemption blessing far more wonderful than their past redemption from Egypt. Then, as Isaiah 12 opens, comes the triumph song of this new redemption. Jehovah had been angry with them, and rightly so, given their past of tragic wickedness. But now He has become their Comforter, their Strength and their Salvation.
The song does not stop at anger removed. It goes on to call God Himself their salvation, and it names Him as Jehovah, not as Father.
Here we have a song of praise and thanksgiving for their deliverance. "You will say," etc. (v. 1) means unmistakably Israel. God's anger has not only turned away and ceased, but He is their salvation (v. 2)... But it is Jah Jehovah, not the Father as we know Him now through the Lord Jesus. The effect of their deliverance is that His glory as the Eternal is known in all the earth (v. 5). The Father is known in His family, not in all the earth as such, though His children everywhere know Him. But here it is the kingdom, and He is known as the Holy One of Israel in Zion.
Kelly asks who can speak these words. He rules out the church as the singer, without denying that Christians gain from the passage now.
This is certainly not only a rescue in outward circumstances, however astonishing and complete. There are rich blessings for the soul too. Best of all, the Holy One of Israel dwells in their midst. This, however, in no way takes it from Israel, and does not force us to apply it to the Gentiles — though we ourselves now profit even more deeply during the gospel, by the grace of God known still more profoundly in Christ. But plainly the language as a whole belongs to a people once forsaken by God, and long under His displeasure. That is not true of the church. It fits the ancient people of God exactly, in the day when Messiah is shown to them.
The wording is not new. Israel had sung it once before, at the Red Sea.
Here Israel uses the words the people sang on the wilderness side of the Red Sea, after God saved them from the oppression and slavery of Egypt. Israel returns, as it were, to his first love, to the goodly words that marked him at the beginning. It is the same story in Isaiah 26 and in many of the Psalms: praise to the Lord from His redeemed people, when He delivers them from the enemy.
Verse 3 promises joy in drawing water. In the older translation used here it opens with "Therefore" — the joy rests on what verses 1 and 2 have already said. One writer lists those steps.
We notice the word, "Therefore with joy shall you draw," which assumes a certain condition of soul. This condition may be gathered from the first two verses of our chapter. So: (1) God is the soul's object; (2) His wrath is turned away; (3) He acts as comforter, and as a shield. (4) He is the soul's strength and its song; (5) and has become its salvation.
That order is not locked in the future. The same writer notes that what Israel will enjoy is offered to faith already: "drawing 'water out of the wells of salvation' may be with us a present joyous exercise."
- Anger. God's anger against His people was real and deserved. The song opens by naming it, not denying it.
- Turned. The whole change rests on one fact: the anger has been turned away. Everything the singer says next stands on that.
- Comfort. The God who was angry becomes the Comforter. He does not just stop punishing; He becomes their salvation.
- Song. The words are the Red Sea song sung again. A redeemed people return to their first love after God rescues them.
- Spread. The praise does not stay private. Their deliverance makes God's glory known in all the earth, with the Holy One of Israel among them.
Behold, God is my salvation I will trust, and not be afraid; for Jah, Jehovah, is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
The verse closes a song Israel has not yet sung. It belongs to a day when God's anger has turned away and He Himself has become their salvation. Drawing water raises three questions: whose wells are these? When do they open? Can anyone drink from them now?
A people already rescued sing this song. One writer names who sings it, and which name of God they use:
Here we have a song of praise and thanksgiving for their deliverance. "You will say" in verse 1 means Israel and no one else. God's anger has not only turned away and ceased, but He is their salvation. For all Israel in that day shall be saved. So with joy they draw water out of those inexhaustible wells and say Hallelujah. But it is Jah Jehovah, not the Father as we know Him now through the Lord Jesus.
What is drawn is not a benefit held apart from God. The song has already said that He has become their salvation, and the wells carry the same sense:
Salvation known and enjoyed is the main theme of the chapter — the keynote of the song. God Himself is that salvation. The heart seeks salvation, takes hold of it, and learns it. And for satisfaction in it, a person, not a thing, must be the object.
The joy is not worked up. Older translations open the verse with "Therefore," pointing back to verses 1 and 2:
Notice the words, "Therefore with joy you will draw." They assume a certain condition of soul. We can gather that condition from the first two verses of our chapter. So: (1) God is the soul's object; (2) His wrath is turned away; (3) He acts as comforter, and as a shield; (4) He is the soul's strength and its song; (5) and has become its salvation.
The Hebrew word here is not the ordinary word for a dug pit. It carries the idea of an opening in the ground that gives water of itself:
The word ayin differs from the other Hebrew words for wells. It means "an eye." It was like an eye in the ground from which the waters sprang up. It is not said to be dug, and yet it is called a "well."
Israel had met such wells once before, at a desert camp called Elim. One writer sees Elim behind this verse, then measures the difference:
If verses 1 and 2 remind us of Exodus 14 and 15, verse 3 recalls Elim, which is mentioned in the last verse of chapter 15. The Elim wells were very welcome and refreshing. But here is something far more wonderful, and Elim was only a faint picture of it. The salvation Israel will then receive will not only meet their needs in this life; it will also be spiritual and eternal.
One writer pictures the crowds at their feast, acting out this verse with water and golden vessels:
Their feast has come and is nearly gone. How useless all their celebration had been! How empty it was to draw up water in golden vessels and pour it out, reciting the prophet's words about Israel's millennial blessing: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." Sadly, they had no salvation, no water, no joy worth the name. Faced with an empty ritual, our Lord cries aloud. His words have found an echo in so many hearts: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." Here we have not just the satisfaction of thirst, but rivers of living water flowing out from the once empty heart of man — now so full that it overflows with joy and carries refreshment to others. ... So it all looks forward to the gift of the Spirit, after redemption had been accomplished.
The verse looks ahead to Israel's day. Yet one writer presses it into the present:
Fruits of grace await Israel in such abundance in a future day. They are offered to faith now, though in higher measure and in a more blessed way... So it is plain that drawing "water out of the wells of salvation" may be for us a present joyous exercise.
So a dry soul is something to examine, not to accept:
It is a sad thing when believers get neither pleasure nor profit from the word of God, which opens the wells of salvation to us. When we lack joy in drawing water from them, it is clear something has gone wrong, and we ought to think it over. Waiting on God is the secret of strength; and the same, in a self-judging spirit, is the secret of discovering the cause of weakness.
- Therefore — the joy of verse 3 rests on verses 1–2: anger turned away, God as comforter, strength, song and salvation. Remove the cause and the drawing stops.
- Wells — the word pictures springs that open in the ground, not pits men dig. The supply rises on its own.
- Person — you draw God Himself as salvation, so satisfaction rests in someone, not in something.
- Empty vessels — at the feast men chanted this verse while pouring water, but they had no salvation. Christ answered by offering drink to anyone thirsty, and the one who drinks overflows to others.
- Now — the full song waits for Israel's day. Yet the wells stand open through the word of God, and joyless drawing is a signal to stop and examine.