Saved by the Well in Psalms 84 and 87

Saved by the Well in Psalms 84 and 87.

“Even when they pass through the dry Valley of Baca, the Valley of Weeping, they will make it a place of wellsprings, as if the early rain had clothed it with a blessing.” (Psalm 84:6).

“Singers and dancers alike sing, ‘All my wellsprings are in you! Every fountain of delight springs up from your life within me!” (Psalm 87:7).

SAVED: The Hebrew word for save is “Yasha,” which means to be set free into the wide open; to be delivered in a time of desperate need; to be saved from destruction and certain death. “Salvation” literally means to become spacious, and refers to “the sense of deliverance from an existence that had become confined, compressed, or cramped.” (Eugene Peterson). When Jesus delivers us from our inner spiritual confinement, we are liberated into a wide open, broad, expansive place. The word for “wide open space” is the opposite of a straitjacket. Without Jesus, our soul will never be freed from our spiritual straitjacket. There are three passages in Psalms that describe this freedom deliverance beautifully:

1. “From my distress, I called upon the Lord. He answered me and set me on a large place. After being in a tight spot, the Lord placed me into a broad space. Because I was hemmed in, I called on Lord Yahweh. He answered me and gave me room.” (Ps. 118:5);
2. “Lord, you have not given me over into the hands of the Enemy; You have liberated me and set my feet in a wide expanse, a good and spacious land. You have given me the freedom to roam at large, where I can freely move. You have given me room to breathe.” (Ps. 31:8);
3. “The Lord rescued me because He delighted in me. He brought me out to freedom into a wide-open space. My soul has been delivered because of God’s love for me, and my soul finally has some elbow room!” (Ps. 18:19).

THE WELL: There are four Hebrew words used in the Jewish Bible to describe the different kinds of ancient wells. There was the traditional well that was a deep hole dug in the ground to tap into an underground source of water. Another type of well was a fountain spring that had naturally broken through the earth’s surface on its own without man’s help. The wellspring is another version of well in Scripture in which fresh water flowed out of the ground in any number of ways to become available for cleansing, nourishment, refreshment, for survival itself. Life-giving wells of water have always been a powerful picture of our dependence upon God for spiritual survival. Just as Creator God has designed the human body to completely depend on water to live, our spiritual life totally relies on His presence in us to not just survive but to flourish. God is our spiritual well of fresh water, the only stable source of nourishment and purity. He is our fountain of life that gushes forth to replenish and cleanse us. God is our eternal wellspring of living water that will never run dry. Each of us is born spiritually dehydrated, and God alone is the constant, reliable water source to bring us back to life. As the silly joke goes, wells are a deep subject, and the biblical wells involve such stalwarts as Hagar and Abraham; Isaac and Moses; Samson and Solomon; the psalmists and the prophets. And of course, the glorious fulfillment of all these ancient stories of wells… Messiah Jesus and the woman at the well.

Psalm 84:5-7: “Blessed are those who make You their strength, Lord, for they treasure every step of the journey to Zion, their every thought is on their pilgrimage, and within their hearts are the highways of holiness. Even when they pass through the dry Valley of Baca, the Valley of Weeping, they will make it a place of springs, as if the early rain had clothed it with a blessing. They will go from strength to strength, gaining strength with every step forward to God in Zion.” 

Valley of Weeping. The Hebrew here in Ps. 84:6 is the Valley of Baca, which was also known as the Valley of Tears. This valley may have been a real valley that pilgrims had to endure on the road to Jerusalem, but its actual locale is unknown. Many have claimed that this a legitimate landmark, the valley of the Baca bush, or mulberry tree, or even the balsam tree. The mulberry and balsam trees are known as “weeping trees” because of the blood-like tears when their pressed berries are poured. The valley in this passage is also considered a metaphor for those inevitable, challenging times in a believer’s life when one’s journey with God contains hardships and adversities. But God has proven himself to be the Lord of renewal and transformation, and can take that dry, desolate place of sorrow and difficulty and turn it into one of blessing and refreshment. Only the Lord can take a dry gulch and turn it into a life-giving oasis. While trudging through a Valley of Tears, we pilgrims need to persevere, to trust God in such an expectant way that we could very well experience a God-given miracle of grace, that as we dig for water during the dry times, we would discover an underground spring that would gush forth with living water to replenish our souls. Perhaps the persistent pilgrim transforms those inevitable dry times in the spiritual walk through faithful prayers that dig those deep wells, and God honor those prayerful efforts by filling those wells with refreshing autumn rains. And perhaps God uses our tears during adversity to irrigate the desert experience, transforming our trials into moments of refreshing growth. However we think of this process, the psalmist speaks of these trials as a temporary experience that we’re passing through, not a destination that keeps us stuck in spiritual dryness. As pilgrims for Christ, we are on the way through, not a permanent resident, of the Valley of Baca.

Psalm 87:1-3,7: “High upon His hills of holiness stands God’s city. How God loves the gates of Zion, His favorite place on earth. So many glorious things have been proclaimed over Zion, God’s holy city! … Singers and dancers alike sing, ‘All my wellsprings are in you! Every fountain of delight springs up from your life within me!” 

In this festive song, once again composed by the “Sons of Korah” as in Psalm 84, Jerusalem is celebrated as God’s special city, the city He cherishes more than any other place, the city of Zion. God founded His holy place on a sacred mountain and granted it with His peculiar glory. And in an unusual twist that is often overlooked, Israel’s traditional enemies are listed as official citizens of the City in the future. Those adversaries who have surrounded Israel for centuries are going to be included in God’s eternal plans for Zion, full-fledged citizen, as if they were born in Jerusalem! This prophetic psalm points to the time of the great Restoration when the nations of the earth will be united in Jerusalem’s Christ, and Zion will be the capital city of God’s family after adopting people from every nation on earth. Yes, there will be a time when ethnic boundaries will fall, national borders will evaporate, Israel’s enemies will become its friends, and former adversaries will on equal footing with God’s chosen people. There is a time coming when we will all be one big happy family, adopted into God’s homeland on earth. And the truth of God’s sufficiency is present right now, with the Lord of the Fountain providing all that is needed to live a flourishing, joyful, faithful life. For God is the Wellspring of life, our one and only Source of joy and renewal right now. And the time is coming when Zion will become the eternal center of God’s redemptive work, and God will live in the city square as its everlasting Source of living water, its fountain of delight in Paradise.

A Deeper Dive into the Biblical Zion: “How great is the Lord Yahweh, how deserving of praise, in the city of our God, which sits on His holy mountain! It is high and magnificent; the whole earth rejoices to see it! Mount Zion, the holy mountain, is the city of the great King! (Psalm 48:1-2).

Mt. Zion is like a sacred bar of soap. Every time we think we grasp at its meaning, it slips out of our grasp and means something else. Mt. Zion has morphed from the mountain stronghold that David conquered (2 Samuel 5) to the New Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22-23), and everything in between. As the Bible story progresses, Zion added to its meaning. Yes, it is a rather smallish mountain in Jerusalem, along with Mt. Moriah. A little backstory… Those two mountains were separated by a valley in ancient times, but through the centuries that valley has been filled in so much that those two mountains in Jerusalem have been more-or-less joined together. Mt. Moriah has remained a literal, physical location in the minds of the Jews, the place where the holy Temple Mount is located. But Zion is as much a spiritual place as it is a physical place. Modern Zion is the highest point in Jerusalem, just outside the walls of the Old City. No one seems to mind that Zion has been moved, figuratively, from being an Eastern mountain to a Western Mountain to being in the Southeast of the city. Mt. Zion is a symbol as much as anything else, so they don’t mind if modern Zion might actually be in a different locale than ancient times.

Is it any wonder why Mt. Zion is mentioned over 150 times in the Hebrew Bible? And seven times in the New Testament? Or why Zion is spoken of in the Psalms 40 times? Zion means so much in so many different contexts, that we can perhaps understand the significance of Zion if we mention what it represents in Scripture:

(1.)  The City of David. The city of Jerusalem in ancient times was a Canaanite fortress in an excellent location for David’s purposes. It was built on a small mountain called Zion. So David decides to conquer this stronghold and claim it as the capital of Israel in his kingdom. After this victory, the city was named thereafter as “the City of David.”  (2 Samuel 5);

(2.)  The City of Jerusalem. Zion came to represent the city of Jerusalem in the minds of the Israelites, and those two terms were pretty much interchangeable. (Isaiah 33:20; Isaiah 40:9; Psalm 51:18);

(3.)  The Nation of Israel. Zion also came to symbolize the Jewish nation as a whole. The entire population of the nation was collectively referred to as Zion, being called the “sons of Zion” as well as the “daughters of Zion.” (Isaiah 33:14; Zechariah 9:13;

(4.)  The Messianic City. Zion has been the central site of the future messianic rule since the time of David and then the prophets. “I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion.” (Ps. 2:6). Also refer to Ps. 48:1; Isaiah 1:26, 2:2-3; Joel 2:32);

(5.)  The Dwelling Place of God. Because generally speaking the Temple rested on Mt. Zion, with Mt. Moriah right there with it, Zion was mentioned in Scripture as where the Lord dwelt with man. Zion represented God’s presence on earth. Time and again, the words of Isaiah 8:18 are repeated through Scripture, “… The Lord of Hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.” (Ps. 74:2; Ps. 9:11; Ps. 50:1-2).

(6.)  The New Jerusalem. Christian believers have long believed that Zion represents what we have waiting for us in heaven. “What you have come to is Mt. Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where millions of angels gather in a joyful celebration, with the whole Church of first-borns, enrolled as citizens of heaven. You have come to God Himself… and to Jesus.”  (Hebrews 12:22-24). Also Isaiah 35:10, Micah 4:7, and Revelation 14:1.

Yes, Zion has been referenced as a symbol in many, many ways: the fruitful spouse of Yahweh (Isaiah 66:13); the visible sign of divine favor; the pledge of messianic promises; the unity of the Chosen People; the restoration of Israel; the site of the triumphant Messiah; the holy place of salvation; a sanctuary and safe homeland. Zion has been used figuratively since biblical times as well. During the slavery era in the United States, for example, the slaves were referring to Zion as the safe place they could escape to, the sanctuary they were seeking, the welcoming homeland that would protect them. Note the number of spirituals that refer to Zion.

So how did Zion evolve into meaning so much to so many different people? To a spiritual location as well as a physical location? What started in Scripture as a pagan fortress grew into an eternal fortress, from the City of David to the City of the Son of David.

“Though Yahweh Lord is very great and lives in heaven, He will make Zion His home of justice and righteousness. In that day He will be your sure foundation, providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. The reverence of the Lord will be your treasure.”  (Isaiah 33:5-6).