Saved by the Well – David

Saved by the Well – David. (this post is in process and incomplete at this time)

“To know You is to experience a flowing fountain of life; in Your light we see light.” (Ps. 36:9).

“Bless God with choruses in the great congregation, the Lord, O you who are of Israel’s fountain, the Source of Israel’s life.” (Ps. 68:26).

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.

“The single most characteristic thing about David is God. David believed in God, thought about God, imagined God, addressed God, prayed to God. The largest part of David’s existence wasn’t David but God.” (Eugene Peterson, Leap Over A Wall.)

The Overture. David’s life was the God-song that anticipated the Christ-Song. His life was the musical piece that strongly hinted at the melodies and themes that would be heard in the Christ-Song much later. David’s life served as the musical preview that prepared us for the Song of Jesus, the son of David.

A Musician for Royalty. Young David’s skills as a musician were revealed early in his life: “Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and the Lord sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear… ‘Let us find a good musician to play the harp whenever the tormenting spirit troubles you, Saul. He will play soothing music, and you will soon be well again…’ And whenever the tormenting spirit from God troubled Saul, David would play the harp. Then Saul would feel better, and the tormenting spirit would go away.’ (1 Samuel 16:14-23). David’s musical talent never left him, and were the centerpiece of his entire life and witness.

The Sweet Psalmist. In a full life of major spiritual, political, familial events, how did he see himself? The biggest clue to his self-identity is in his last address to the people, his last official words before his death. There is a phrase in II Samuel 23:1 that has been interpreted two different ways. Both versions are interesting and instructive. In the first version, he called himself the “sweet psalmist of Israel.” The other translations reads, “the favorite singer of the songs of the Mighty One.”

The Ultimate Maestro. Music was David’s life, which he proved as he took it upon himself to organize the worship for the Temple he planned but did not build. He arranged the worship music to be led by 4,000 persons with instruments, 288 accomplished singers who would lead the services with their cymbals, harps and lyres, and 120 priests who would accompany the worship with sounding trumpets! David arranged the worship music as described in 2 Chronicles 5 this way, “The trumpeters and singers performed together in unison to praise and give thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices and praised the Lord with these words: ‘The Lord Yahweh is good! His mercy endures forever!”

[Note: In both of these passages, David used the Hebrew word “maqor” which means fountain, wellspring, or a flowing water source.]

A Song of David: Psalm 36:8-10. “The children of mankind feast on the abundance of Your house, and You will give them drink from the delightful wellsprings of Eden. To know You is to experience a flowing fountain of life; in Your light do we see light. Keep pouring out Your mercy and lovingkindness to those who know You…” 

1. David’s song here in Psalm 36 is his glowing tribute and celebration of God’s mercy, His hesed, which is maybe the most important word in David’s vocabulary. Hesed is the Hebrew word for mercy that is often translated as lovingkindness, indicating a steadfast love, a compassionate faithfulness and loyalty to covenant love, an eager desire to demonstrate love-in-action. “Hesed” is used over 120 times in the book of Psalms alone in order to focus on God’s continued and unwavering forbearance and patience due to His faithful loving-kindness, God’s eternal quality of remaining true to His promises out of sheer love.
2. This verse of Ps. 36:9 is vital to the Jewish faith and is so important that it is repeated in daily prayers as the tallit (the prayer shawl) is put on.

A Song of David: Psalm 68:24-26. “They march in your honor, O true God, and have come into view, a procession that celebrates my King, in holiness, coming into Your sanctuary. The singers come in first, then there are the musicians playing instruments, and in their midst are young maidens prayerfully striking their timbrels. Bless God with choruses in the great congregation, the Lord, O you who are of Israel’s fountain, the Source of Israel’s life.” 

David’s Well in Bethlehem. “David was then in his stronghold in the cave of Adullam, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David said with longing, ‘Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” So the three mighty men of David’s troop broke through the camp of the Philistines behind enemy lines, drew water from the well at Bethlehem’s gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless, he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. And David said, ‘Far be it from me, O Lord Yahweh, that I should do this! Does this not represent the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?’ Therefore he would not drink it.” (2 Samuel 23:14-17).

While on the run from the murderous King Saul, David suddenly craved for a taste of home, a drink of water from the well familiar to him from his hometown of Bethlehem. He was born and raised in that little town with his brothers in the home of father Jesse, and he spent his teenage years shepherding his father’s sheep in the surrounding pastures and fields. And too, David was secretly anointed in Bethlehem by prophet Saul to be the future king of Israel. A simple cup of water from Bethlehem’s well would mean a lot to him. But lo and behold, three of his faithful fighters actually had the courage to break through enemy lines, procure a skin of water at that well, and return at the risk of their lives, just to please their beloved leader. David immediately saw this well water as holy water, because it represented the lifeblood of these men who risked their lives just to bring it to him. So David turned that well water into a drink offering before the Lord. He poured out that precious water to God in dedication to the sacrifice of his men. In David’s mind, to drink this sacred water would have been a sacrilege.

“The David story anticipates the Jesus story. The Jesus story presupposes the David story… The David story is a gospel story. It’s a story that gets completed in the Jesus story.” (Eugene Peterson, Leap Over A Wall).