Eshav Books

Drawing water from the Wells of Salvation (Isa 12:3)

Esh-av comes from the Hebrew word sha-av. It means to draw (water). Esh-av is the first-person imperfect form of the verb - and it means "I will draw." The idea, when related to the verse in Isaiah 12:3 which speaks of drawing "water from the wells of salvation," is to celebrate the goodness and reliability of God's word by drawing the meaning and significance of a biblical text from the text itself - rather than reading a meaning into it. The concept sounds simple enough, but it often isn't. Primarily, because our ability to rightly divide (or handle) the word of truth (2Timothy 2:15) is affected by our "world-view" - whatever comprehensive understanding we have of God, the universe and humanity. Our world-view is determined by how we were raised, the relationship that we had (or have) with our parents, the language(s) that we speak, our culture and our values.