4 Restore our fortunes again, Yahweh, like the streams in the Negev. 5 Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. 6 He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.
In verse 4, I find some similarity between the desert of Negev receiving watering to the very dry bones in Ezekiel receiving the breath of the Lord1. These two examples,2 dry desert and (very) dry bones, represent the destination of Israelites who trust in their own power (to rule themselves or stand against hostile neighbors) instead of in God 3. As a result, they fall captive to their neighbors (Babylonian captivity) and live in a desolate land of hungry people driven against each other to survive.4
When the streams water the dry desert of Negev, greenery returns. When the Lord restores his people, life returns. The Lord promises peace like a river,5 water that courses steadfastly bringing life to trees and crops alongside. When the woman at the well receives Jesus the true water, she at once returns to town and tells the people she was avoiding to Come and see this Jesus.6 In all, God’s restoration of his people also transforms us from sin and death; to life.
Verse 5-6 describe those who sow in tears reaping joy and harvest. Here, I think of three implications of these verses. First, we shed tears as we give up our hold over our lives, whether the sin we clung to or our own plans to glorify ourselves! We weep as we scatter seeds into the soil not knowing if they sprout and bear a harvest: in tears and with a blind faith we give up and die to our familiar lives of sin.
Second, the one who will restore us, Christ, is our sower in tears. In John 12, Jesus tells his disciples that a kernel of wheat that falls to the ground and dies produces many seeds.7 He, like the kernel of wheat, endures the shame of the cross hanging on a tree cursed8 and forsaken by God;9 and falls to the ground in burial. Jesus also wept in John 11, as he sees Mary and those gathered around weeping: he weeps as they do in grief for Lazarus who dies. Jesus weeps too because they still don’t see that he is the Lord of life.10 In Luke 22, before Jesus submits himself to crucifixion, he prays in anguish on the Mount of Olives. He sweat like drops of blood falling to the ground.11 Jesus wept and sweat like blood; so great was his love for the world and for his father.
Finally, though sowing in tears, Jesus rises from the dead. In him we died to sin; in him we rose to life.12 We wept when we died to our familiar sinful lives; in him we receive new life, returning with songs of joy. And if we return with songs of joy, don’t our mouths also fill with laughter; and we become like those who dream?13 The tears wept sowing seed He bore unto his death. But God who raises Jesus also raises us.14 One day, Jesus will wipe every tear and death shall be no more.15 He died so that he might bring forth a harvest and life for those who believe. One day the sun shines through the sheaves golden in the field. One day he and we return, singing songs of joy, carrying sheaves.
Ezekiel 37:4 (“Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!… I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord”). ↩︎
The Bible contains similar descriptions, like God removing hearts of stone and giving a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26); and God leading the Israelites out of Egyptian captivity and wilderness to the promised land (Exodus 6:6). ↩︎
Ezekiel 37:23 (“They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding”). ↩︎
Jeremiah 19: 7-9 ("…I will give their carcasses as food to the birds and the wild animals… I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn; all who pass by will be appalled… I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them") ↩︎
Isaiah 48:18 (“Oh, that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea”). ↩︎
John 4:29 (“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”). ↩︎
John 12 (“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds”). ↩︎
Deuteronomy 21:23 (“Cursed is anyone hung on a tree”). ↩︎
Matthew 27:46 (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). ↩︎
John 11:33. ↩︎
Luke 22:44 (“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground”). ↩︎
Romans 8:11 (“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you”). ↩︎
Psalm 126:1-2 (“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them”). ↩︎
Ephesians 2:4 (“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”). ↩︎
Revelation 21:4 (“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away”). ↩︎