This morning, our congregation opened the singing portion of
our worship with these words as a modern chorus added to a classic hymn, Joyful,
Joyful, We Adore Thee:
We sing in jubilation adoration to a joyful King
You are spinning and You are singing
Zealous love over all Your children
Spinning? Huh? What's with that? I couldn't ask our
congregation to sing a song about our Lord "spinning" without a clear
biblical explanation. So, in preparing for this morning, I did some homework. Thankfully,
the writers of that chorus (Charlie Hall and Trent Austin) appear to have been
studying their Hebrew. In Isaiah 65:17-19 (ESV), the prophet attributes these words our
Lord, Yahweh:
"For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress."
I don't know Hebrew, but my digital interlinear Bible and lexicon
tell me that the noun and verb forms of the same Hebrew root word (gyl, גִּיל) are translated
joy and rejoice in this passage. Now, here's where this gets interesting.
According to Strong, this root means "to spin round (under the influence of any violent emotion)."[1] Thus, in
this verse, the only reference I can find in the Old Testament where the
subject for this particular Hebrew verb is God, Isaiah uses the word for
rejoice that has a sense of motion, of spinning.
Now, I know that "God
is spirit" (John 4:24), so this sense of motion is likely not within the
bounds of the time-space continuum. However, I think God gave these words to
Isaiah so that we would understand that this rejoicing is that uninhibited,
no-holds-barred, dancing, singing, shouting, whooping, and hollering type of
rejoicing that we barely sample just a few times in our earthly existence. Importantly,
we are commanded earlier in this same passage, using that same verb, to rejoice
forever in God's creation, his people, the church.
I am reminded of my daughter as a young girl. She had an affinity
for a particular type of dress, the dress with a full skirt that opened up as
she spun around. We called these dresses "spinny dresses." At times,
when she could not contain her joy, she would just spin and spin and spin some
more in her spinny dress. This childlike expression of unrestrained joy is the
heart attitude that I seek as I worship God. I look forward to that future
state in the new heavens and the new earth in which I will see my Lord rejoice
and be glad in his people, and I will rejoice and be glad with his people. Hallelujah, praise God!
[1] Strong, J.
(2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words
in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Vol. 2, p. 27). Bellingham,
WA: Logos Bible Software.
