Isa 12: A psalm of praise for the deliverance God will bring
to Jerusalem, by the destruction of the army of Assyria. Note //s with Exo 15 --
commemorating the destruction of the army of Egypt.
ALTHOUGH YOU WERE ANGRY WITH ME: "This, of course,
makes no sense apart from the realisation that the affliction which came on
Hezekiah was not personally deserved but was visited on him as representative of
the nation. Nor does this first declaration make sense apart from what follows:
'Thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me' " (WIsa 191).
Isa 12:3
WELLS OF SALVATION: "In Hezekiah's day there was only
one 'well of salvation' -- the Gihon spring which was led underground by
Hezekiah's conduit (2Ch 32:3,4) to Siloam (Isa 8:6) inside the city's defences.
The intensive plural -- 'wells' -- is used here for emphasis. Here is the
beginning (it could hardly have been introduced earlier) of the lovely figure of
speech, in psalms and prophets, of the Lord as a life-giving spring of water
(Jer 2:13; cp Psa 42:1,2). [This v] suggests that it was in thanksgiving for the
Assyrian deliverance that the procedure was instituted at the Feast of
Tabernacles [cp also Zec 14:16] of drawing water from Siloam and taking it in
solemn processional to the temple, there to be poured out in praise and
thanksgiving at the base of the altar. It was, of course, this to which Jesus
referred in his great appeal on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Joh
7:37,38). He appropriated the meaning of the entire procedure to himself, and
thus underlined (what needs no underlining) that Isa 12 is about himself and his
salvation" (WIsa 192).
Isa 12:4
GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD, CALL ON HIS NAME: Quoting from
one of the processional psalms when David brought the ark to Zion (1Ch 16:8; cp
Psa 105:1). 'Do not forget that the true "Ark" of the glory of God is here in
Jerusalem, and that He is the tower and refuge of His people (Psa 46:7;
48:3).'
Isa 12:5
GLORIOUS: Or "excellent". Lit, the "surging" or
"welling up" of mighty waters (cp sw in Psa 89:9; similar wd in Exo 15:1,21; Eze
47:5) -- alluding to the sudden flow of water through the Siloam conduit when
completed. Cp ideas in Psa 46.
LET THIS BE KNOWN TO ALL THE WORLD: One outcome of the
Assyrian defeat was an unparalleled acknowledging of the God of Israel by
surrounding nations (2Ch 32:23).
Isa 12:6
SHOUT ALOUD AND SING FOR JOY: In unrestrained gladness
at such a mighty salvation.
GREAT IS THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL AMONG YOU: Cp Hos 11:9;
Zep 3:14,15. Cp Christ entering the Jerusalem: "Hosanna... Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord" (Mat 21:9; Psa 118:26; cp Zec 14:16; Rev 7:9;
21:3).