Drawing Water from the Wells of Salvation with Joy

Isaiah's promise—"with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation"—echoes the wilderness wandering at Rephidim, where Israel's parched lips opened to murmur against Adonai. Moses, at his wits' end, cried to God, and received this command: take the elders, ascend Horeb with your rod, and strike the rock. The answer came not from the rod or the uplifted hand, but from the présentia Dei—the presence of God standing upon that stone. Sparkling streams poured forth; thirsty men threw themselves upon the ground, gluing their lips to the glancing blessing, dipping cups and skins into water that flashed along the desert.

The Talmudists connected this passage to the water libation during the Feast of Tabernacles, likely a custom restored—not invented—by the Asmonean princes. Such a rite acknowledged Elohim's gift of water without which harvest and vintage must fail. Samuel and Elijah performed similar acts, confirming the ancient practice.

Isaiah, writing fifteen hundred years later, had the Exodus vividly in mind. The lyric burst of his song mirrors the Canticle of Moses first chanted at the Red Sea: "The Lord is my strength and song." The returning captives singing this prophecy claim the same deliverance—from a worse bondage than Egyptian slavery. The Root of Jesse effects the better redemption. What Moses struck in stone, Christ offers in grace: inexhaustible water, drawn with joy.