Ps 63:1b My soul thirsts (tsâmê) for You. Part II: Psalms-Prophets: Our thirst eternally unmet in the vanities of This Age or finally satisfied in the Kingdom of the Suffering Servant

[Reading Time: 19 minutes]

Review: The paradox of thirst

In the last writing on Ps 61, we focused on the thirst (tsâmê) of our soul and the paradox that lies therein, which could be summarized as follows:

When we thirst for that which can be immediately satisfied by This Fallen Age, our thirst will only intensify. And the more we then drink of the its waters, the greater, the deeper, the more overwhelming our thirst becomes.

If, however, we thirst for that which cannot be satisfied by This Age but only in JHWH—Who is The I AM—not the passing ‘now’—then our thirst will not only be increasingly satisfied, but moreover, in the process of Christ fulfilling our deepest needs with the water and bread of life, He will begin transforming the depths of our desires so that we begin thirsting for that which can only be satisfied by JHWH Himself.

This took us through the rebellion of the Israelites at the waters of Massah and Meribah, where their thirst was not primarily for the mere provision of water but for something far deeper, which only the trials in the wilderness could reveal (Deut 8:2-4).

In Huxley’s conception, this is where there comes a great branch point in humanity. In one direction, we might say the broad and easy path, pass the masses who desire only the immediate satisfaction of their impulses so as to keep their soul from becoming conscious of its deeper needs. Abolish the “feeling” that “lurks in the interval of time between” their “desire and its consummation” so that every impulse is immediately satisfied at the very moment it arises…and these would, as it were, gladly submit to the yoke of control.

"Let them eat” not bread but “cake!"

Down the other road, however, the narrow and suffering (thlibó) path, go a struggling few who allow that feeling to continue unsatisfied by the vanities of this world. And in that state of want, in that growing sense of deeper need, this feeling leads them beyond the confines of This Age in a whole-hearted search for meaning, in a quest for truth and beauty that leads them, ultimately, to nothing less than God Himself.

The former was manifest in the thirst of Sisera, who thirsted only for more of this world. There was a transition in the complex figure of Samson, who, at the very least, brought his thirst to the Living God to be satiated. The Histories then concluded with the person of Ruth, whose thirst leads her into the community of Israel where she is received through marriage into the Covenant which is renewed through a kinsman-redeemer (ga’al).

This finally led us into the Wisdom literature where Job’s experiential understanding reveals that the thirst of the wicked intensifies in abundance and that of the righteous is satisfied in want.

We come now to the Psalm and Prophets where we will conclude this study.

The thirst of our soul in the wilderness according to the Davidic King

Having been literally created in the image of (katá eikṓn) the eternal God, we have a soul that is eternal. And our eternal soul can be nourished by nothing less than the eternal God Himself.

By Him alone can our thirst be satisfied.

And aything less than God, anything divorced from Him and offered to us in This Now Age (en tw nŷn aiṓni, I Tim 6:17), will only reveal the depth of our lack. The more we drink of This Age, therefore, the the deeper this thirst becomes.

For we must seek JHWH, the I AM.

As a deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God!
I thirst (tsâmê) for God,
for the living God (Ps 42:1).

This is David’s cry from the wilderness.

The second and final use of tsâmê in the Psalms takes the same tone:

O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts (tsâmê) for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.

And where do we find Him?

How do we come to drink?

So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.

Because Your lovingkindness (khesed) is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.

Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name (Ps 63:1-4).

And what will happen?

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips (63:5).

The satisfaction of our souls found “in the sanctuary” in our participation in the “praise with joyful lips.”

A far cry from this world’s conception of satisfaction.

To move forward, then, from the prefigurement of the reality, What does the Messianic King Himself say to us?

The Thirst of our soul according to the Messianic King

We come, then, from David’s wilderness exiles to the Feast of Tabernacles (skénopégia, John 7:2; skénoó, cf. 1:14), which, we remember, was an Autumn Festival of the Jewish people to “call to remembrance, that their fathers lived forty years in tabernacles, when they had no houses, that they might thus celebrate the grace of God displayed in their deliverance” (Calvin’s comm.).

And here,

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying,

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”

And what will happen when we come to Him and drink?"

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (7:37-38).

Out of our “heart” (or literally in the Greek, out of our “womb” [koilía]), there will flow not one (singular), but “rivers” (plural) “of living water”

What?

How?

But this He spoke concerning the Spirit,

Whom those believing in Him would receive;

For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:37-39).

The Holy Spirit—He it is that brings the new birth, the birth “from above” (ánōthen, Jn 3:3, 3:7, 3:31), Who in the Nicene formulation is “the Lord and giver of Life.”

In the words of Chrysostom,

"As the Scripture hath said, rivers shall flow from his heart," alluding to the largeness and abundance of grace. As in another place He says, "A well of water springing up unto eternal life" (John 4:14), that is to say, "he shall possess much grace"; and elsewhere He calls it, "eternal life," but here, "living water."

He calls that "living" which ever works; for the grace of the Spirit, when it has entered into the mind and has been established, springs up more than any fountain, fails not, becomes not empty, stays not. To signify therefore at once its unfailing supply and unlimited operation, He called it "a well" and "rivers," not one river but numberless; and in the former case He represented its abundance by the expression, "springing."

The Prophets will then demonstrate the fulfillment of this reality, beginning in the wilderness and consummated in the New Creation, where the Holy Spirit Who in the beginning…hovers (râchaph) over the waters”, now “flutters,” “broods over” (The Syriac cognate of râchaph) the formless void (bôhû…tôhû, Gen 1:2) of the wilderness of This Age, “incubating” the optimal environment for the growth of a New Creational Kingdom.

JHWH with His Spirit (rûakh) hovering over the deep brings forth the perfect provision of “Light” (Gen 1:3) through which every element of this Kingdom shall be nurtured and grow.

This background sets the stage for the final three occurrences in the Prophecy of Isaiah, where this New Creational reality will be more fully revealed.

The New Creation of God’s Eternal Kingdom

Brought forth out of Babylon through the deserts of This Age to the water of life

The Prophet opens with a word to the people. immediately recalling for them the changing of their name:

“Hear this, O house of Jacob”
Who are called by the name of Israel (cf. Gen 32:26-29),
And have come forth from the wellsprings (mayim, cf. Gen 1:2) of Judah;

The name given to them of Israel, baptized by the water of the Spirit’s transforming work in the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (Gen 49:9-> Rev 5:5).

Who swear by the name of the Lord,
And invoke the God of Israel,

And yet…the devolution:

But not in truth or in righteousness (Is 48:1);

The “broad and easy path” of the flesh of Jacob once again brought into the Church.

For they call themselves after the holy city (48:2a).

In Jeremiah’s words, they cry out,

“The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord…” (Jer 7:4)

While they, meanwhile,

“…steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know,

And then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name” (Jer 7:8-9)

To return to the Prophet,

And lean on the God of Israel (Is 48:2b)

Not knowing not understanding, not taking to heart that

The Lord of hosts is His name (48:2c).

Who declares,

“I have declared the former things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.

Because I knew that you were obstinate,
And your neck was an iron sinew,
And your brow bronze,

Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say,

‘My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them” (Is 48:3-5),

Or to put it another way that brings it into our era,

“our ministries, our outreach, our money, our resources, our works, our ability, our wonderful plans…have done them.”

The Prophet responds (to move down to the end of the chapter),

Go forth from Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!

There is nothing for you there.

Come forth to Me,

With a voice of singing,
Declare, proclaim this,
Utter it to the end of the earth;
Say,

“The Lord has redeemed (gāal)
His servant Jacob!”

The Lord has redeemed Yaaqob, the supplanter, and has given him the everlasting birthright of a “Prince with God” (Gen 32:27-28, literally, one who has “fought with God and with men and has prevailed”).

And this embattled people, He declares in the next occurrence,

Did not thirst (tsâmê)

Even when

He led them through the deserts;

Why?

Because

He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;
He also split the rock (baqa) and the waters gushed out (cf. Judg 15:18-19)

Before the rock was “split” with water pouring out to satiate the thirst of one man. Now it is for an entire people.

Thirst quenched in a different desert

In a saying from the Desert Fathers,

Abba Doulas, the disciple of Abba Bessarion said, ‘One day when we were walking beside the sea I was thirsty and I said to Abba Bessarion.

“Father, I am very thirsty.”  

He said a prayer and said to me,

“Drink some of the sea water.”  

The water proved sweet when I drank some. I even poured some into a leather bottle for fear of being thirsty later on. Seeing this, the old man asked me why I was taking some. I said to him,

“Forgive me, it is for fear of being thirsty later on.”  

Then the old man said,

“God is here, God is everywhere.”  

But to those who reject these waters, who reject the God Who “is here”, Who “is everywhere”, Who continually provides for the thirst of our soul:

“There is no peace (shalom),” says the Lord, “for the wicked” (Is 48:20-22).

Our thirst met through the Servant as we are brought out of darkness into the Light

The thirst of God’s people will be met by the Servant (cf. Is 42:1) whom He has “called from the womb” and Whose mouth He has “made like a sharp sword” and Whom He has “hidden” in “the hollow of His Hand” as a “sharpened arrow” (Is 49:1-2).

Who exactly is this Servant?

And He said to me,

‘You are My servant, O Israel,
In whom I will be glorified’ (paar, 49:3; cf. Ps. 149:4).

Yet there follows doubt:

Then I said,

‘I have labored in vain and for no purpose (rîyq),
I have spent my strength for nothing (tôhû, cf. Gen 1:2) and in vain (hevel, cf. Eccl 1:2);

An honest feeling of those laboring in any work of the Gospel.

Until the Servant looks upwards:

Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord,
And my work with my God’ (49:4)

And hears the word of the Lord:

Indeed He says,

‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel?’ (49:6a)

Yet not only Israel alone:

I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation (yeshuah) to the ends of the earth’

Thus says the Lord,
The Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One (49:6b-7a).

This is the view from above.

The view, however, from below:

To Him whom man despises,
To Him whom the nation abhors,
To the Servant of rulers (49:7b)

To this One Who came despised by the world, hated and rejected:

“Kings shall see and arise,
Princes also shall worship,
Because of the Lord who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel;
And He has chosen You” (49:7c).

“Chosen” for what reaso?

Thus says the Lord:

“In an acceptable time I have heard You,
And in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will preserve You and give You
As a covenant mediator [y] to the people,

To restore the earth,
To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;
That You may say to the prisoners,

‘Go forth,’

To those who are in darkness (choshek, cf. Gen 1:2),

‘Emerge’ (49:8-9a)

For this the Servant came.
For this the Servant suffered.

That His people may emerge as light out of darkness.

The penultimate use of tsâmê: The hunger and thirst of the redeemed met fully

And upon emerging,

“They shall feed along the roads,
And their pastures shall be on all barren heights.
They shall neither hunger nor thirst (tsâmê, 49:9b-10a).

Even in the barrenness of This Fallen Age their needs shall be met and their thirst satisfied and their lives under the protection of JHWH:

Neither heat nor sun shall strike them

And again we ask, How can his be?

For He who has mercy on them will lead them,
Even by the springs of water He will guide them (49:10b).

The Servant shall be their shepherd.

I will make each of My mountains a road,
And My highways shall be elevated.
Surely these shall come from afar;
Look! Those from the north and the west,
And these from the land of Sinim” (49:11-12)

The redeemed of the Lord shall be brought together;

Unified through and in the Servant;

Fulfilling the prayer that God’s eternal Kingdom come

As it is in Heaven so on earth (ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς, Mt 6:10).

With the response of all creation to this eschatological fulfillment:

Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted (49:13).

This is the response of the redeemed.

…Yet…there is another dimension:

While there is joy and singing and mercy (râcham) for the afflicted (ânîy) who turn to JHWH to satisfy their deepest longings,

There is dissatisfaction and continual thirst for those who in self-righteousness turn away.

The final use: The thirst eternally unsatisfied of those ‘holier than thou’ who have rejected the Servant

The Prophet speaks the word of the Lord to Israel, revealing to them that the pagan nations, whom they, no doubt, despise would be brought to Him, while they themselves would be cast away.

“I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said,

‘Here I am, here I am,’

To a nation that was not called by My name.

I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in a way that is not good,
According to their own thoughts;

A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face (Is 65:1-3a)

In another experience from the Desert, there is a similar word revealed to the religious community who had, as it were, “proven” their spiritual status by giving away all their possessions and handing over the body to be burned by the fiery, desert sun (cf. I Cor 13:3)

As Abba Silvanus was sitting with the brethren one day he was rapt in ecstasy and fell with his face to the ground.  After a long time he got up and wept.  The brethren besought him saying,

‘What is it, Father?’  

But he remained silent and wept.  When they insisted on his speaking, he said,

‘I was taken up to see the judgment and I saw there many of our sort coming to punishment and many seculars going into the kingdom.’

A word for us in the church who, in Jesus’ words,

trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others (Lk 18:9)

(Which, we remember, is the preface to the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector…)

Yet their thoughts as self-righteous persons who despised others do not remain mere thoughts but become translated into action:

Who sacrifice in gardens,
And burn incense on altars of brick;

Who sit among the graves,
And spend the night in the tombs;
Who eat swine’s flesh,
And the broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

And in rejecting the righteousness of JHWH for their own false systems of control, executed ironically enough through the means of religion, these then deign to point the finger at the other:

Who say,

‘Keep to yourself,
Do not come near me,
For I am holier than thou! (65:3b-5a)

(This is where the much-quoted phrase comes from.

…which should probably continue to be quoted…)

Yet to them the Lord give His assessment:

These are smoke in My nostrils,
A fire that burns all the day.

“Behold, it is written before Me:
I will not keep silence, but will repay—
Even repay into their bosom—
Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,”

Says the Lord,

“Who have burned incense on the mountains
And blasphemed Me on the hills;
Therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom” (65:5b-7)

Then comes His judgment upon these evil shepherds who are using the means of false religion to turn away the sheep (cf. Ezek 34):

“But as for you who abandon the Lord
and forget my holy mountain,
who prepare a feast for the god called ‘Fortune,’[z]
and fill up wine jugs for the god called ‘Destiny’[aa]—

I predestine you to die by the sword,
all of you shall all bow down to the slaughter;

because I called to you, and you did not respond;
I spoke and you did not listen.
You did evil before me;
you chose that in which I do not delight” (65:11-12).

Not only shall their thirst never be satisfied but it shall lead to their own death and judgment.

The closing use of tsâmê: The line drawn between the false and the true

And so to the false community of the self-righteous who do their own will through all their religious rites and rituals, and to the koinonia of the faithful who seek, as the Servant, to follow after that in which JWHW delights, the Lord gives His final word.

And this is where we find the final occurrence of tsâmê, with which we will bring this study to a close:

“Behold, My servants shall eat,
But you shall be hungry;

Behold, My servants shall drink,
But you shall be thirsty;

Behold, My servants shall rejoice,
But you shall be ashamed (65:13).

To the one eternal hunger, thirst and never-ending shame;

To the other, perfect satisfaction and joy.

Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart,
But you shall cry for sorrow of heart,
And wail for grief of spirit.

You shall leave your name as a curse to My chosen;
For the Lord God will slay you,
And call His servants by another name;

So that he who blesses himself in the earth
Shall bless himself in the God of truth;
And he who swears in the earth
Shall swear by the God of truth;
Because the former troubles are forgotten,
And because they are hidden from My eyes (65:13-17)

To which we say,

Kyrie eleison

Lord have mercy!