Wells of Joy - Part One

After a seven-year search, the Jewish settlers at the fledgling Kibbutz Na’an finally found water. Their joy was ecstatic; their future secured.




A dancer in the kibbutz named Else Dublin choreographed a simple dance to celebrate the event. And today, 72 years later, it is one of the most popular Israeli folk dances.

Mayim, Mayim! (Water, Water!) is a circle dance, so it is easy to imagine dancing around a well. The words of the song come directly from Isaiah 12.

‘Water, water, water.
With joy you shall draw water from the wells of salvation!’

Even though Kibbutz Na’an is proudly unreligious, the words of Isaiah seemed the perfect expression of their joy.

The Jews’ tradition of dancing their joy goes back to the days of Miriam and Moses. With the Red Sea and their slavery in Egypt behind them, Israel burst into spontaneous song.

“Yahweh is my salvation.
Yahweh my strength and song.” (Exodus 15)

Miriam led the women in a dance, tambourine in hand – and the joy was palpable.  (Photo is "Miriam's Dance", a quilt © by Marilyn Belford, Chenango Forks, NY)

Then they headed out across the hot wilds of Sinai. Sometimes the water they found was brackish and undrinkable, but by various means, their Saving God supplied their needs: remediated wells, water bursting from rocks, an oasis with springs and palm trees.

Five hundred years after Moses, Isaiah foresaw a doom and exile for Israel, but beyond the gloom . . . hope: God’s deliverance, a new exodus, a resurgence of life.

Isaiah draws on exodus language and imagery and writes a song to brace Israel for the ordeal ahead, to focus their faith in Yahweh.
The LORD, the LORD,
is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
With joy you will draw water

from the wells of salvation.

"Give thanks to the LORD,

Sing . . . for he has done glorious things;

let this be known to all the world.

PHOTO: Eric Valentine http://www.praisephotography.com/

Isaiah sees salvation not just for Israel.  He sees a global exodus, nations set free by Yahweh! The vision was still misty for Isaiah as it was for Moses and Miriam, but today the Good News of Jesus invites us all to drink deeply from God’s wells, the boundless depths of grace from a desert God who provides water for thirsty tongues and joy for burned-out spirits, forgiveness for hard hearts and fresh hope for discouraged souls.

Fresh clean water is a gift of endless wonder !
Even greater is the living water of God’s salvation well! Leap to your feet and do a circle dance – alone or with a friend - to the One who gives these gifts and who pours out joy without restraint.