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All my springs are in Thee.
(Psa. 87: 7).
#2.
The confession of Asaph and of Peter.
pp. 41, 42
"Fountains", "wells" and "springs" are in constant reference in the Scriptures, where
they are used as figures of life, fertility and blessing. This can well be understood when
the geography of Palestine is considered. When the land of promise was described by
Moses, it was not only called "a land flowing with milk and honey", but "a good land, a
land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills"
(Deut. 8: 7). The particular word which is translated "springs" in Psalm 87: is the
Hebrew word mayan, a word derived from ayin, "the eye", from the supposed
resemblance to the eye as "a fountain of tears", a figure that is found in the Greek
language also. These "fountains" may be as vast as those that cause the Deluge, when
"the fountains of the great deep were broken up", or as small as a fountain that waters a
garden (Song of Sol. 4: 15), and Isaiah uses the word when he speaks of "the wells of
salvation" (Isa. 12: 3). To any who lived in the East, therefore, the joyous exclamation at
the close of Psalm 87: would need no explanation; it would come spontaneously to
the mind.
The word mayan occurs but five times in the Psalms, and that with a certain evident
connection of theme:
Mayan in the Psalms.
A | 74: 15. Reference to dividing the waters and cleaving the fountains (13-15).
B | 84: 6. Valley of Weeping turned to a well in blessing.
C | 87: 7. All my springs are in Thee.
A | 104: 10. Waters rebuked, they fled. Not another deluge. Springs sent (6-10).
B | 114: 8. The sea fled. Water from the rock in blessing.
The figurative use of a spring is common to most languages. In our own tongue it has
a number of allied usages. A rising, as of a river; a source of anything; the beginning, as
of the day or year; springtime. The act of springing or leaping, and so, the origin of
movement, as by a steel "spring".
To the believer, the Lord Himself is the spring, source and never-failing supply of all
his needs, whether temporal or spiritual, and it is to this aspect of the subject that we
direct our attention.
To any acquainted with the Scriptures, examples of this blessed fact come readily to
the mind. We think of Asaph (Psa. 73:) who had been envious at the apparent
prosperity of the wicked and whose faith had been sorely tried, so much so that he had
said, "Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency". The
turning point in Asaph's spiritual experience was the vision he obtained in the sanctuary: