Beshelach (בשלח) - When Sent Forth- Audio Podcast Feb 11, 2023
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Exodus 13:17-14:31
Introduction
Introduction
In our last Torah Portion we talked about the Plagues
So the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land.
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.
But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
7 plagues in the previous Torah Portion:
1-Egyptian Plague- Water Turned to Blood
Exodus 7:17
- Hapi- Egyptian God of the Nile
This Egyptian God was a water bearer.
The worship of the Nile as a pagan ritual, although many anthropologist say Egypt was monotheistic, the Bible seems to suggest differently:
The Nile river was worshipped by Egypt and thus, by having the river turn into blood (the first plague) and then become the source of disgusting frogs pervading every one's life, the Nile was thoroughly discredited as a true deity, as the Egyptians saw the Nile as a god which provide, as their source
https://www.chabadwestside.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/353642/jewish/VaEra.htm
The first plague that turned the Nile into blood was aimed at destroying the fallacious belief that the Nile was the true source of Egyptian sustenance, and parallels to the first commandment: "I am the L-rd your God, who has taken you out of the land of Egypt."
Lasted 7 days
2-Egyptian Plague- Frogs coming from the Nile River
Exodus 8:3
Heket- Egyptian Goddess of Fertility, Water, Renewal
Heket the Egyptian Goddess, had the head of a frog.
Frogs - Fertility
3- Egyptian Plague- Lice from the dust of the earth
Exodus 8:16-17
Geb- Egyptian God of the Earth
The Egyptian God Geb, was over the dust of the earth.
4- Egyptian Plague- Swarms of Flies
Exodus 8:21
Khepri- Egyptian God of creation, movement of the Sun, rebirth
Khepri, the Egyptian god had the head of a fly.
5- Egyptian Plague- Death of Cattle and Livestock
Exodus 9:3-4
Hathor -Worship of Bull and Oxen
Usually this Egyptian Goddess was depicted with the head of a cow.
6- Egyptian Plague- Ashes turned to Boils and Sores
Exodus 9:6
Isis- Egyptian Goddess of Medicine and Peace
Egypt could not find cure for her people
7- Egyptian Plague- Hail rained down in the form of fire
Exodus 9:18
Nut- Egyptian Goddess of the Sky
They believed that gods came from above
3 Plagues
The Locus
Exodus 10:4
3 Days of Darkness
Exodus 10:21-22
Death of First Born
Exodus 11:4-5
יהוה
(Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh)
The Lord used all these plagues to demonstrate the He is: (Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh)
Commonly known as Lord
Yahweh
YHWH
Adonai
The Torah is the manual how to serve God- gives a sense of direction, like a compass
W/o direction you do not know where you are going or what you are doing.
All of us are born without direction. We need to learn it. God gives us the compass and we chose not to take it- we want to do it on our own.
If we do not have direction we will be confused.
Torah is not law (to be under the law), but instruction, teaching, guidance.
Example - operation manual - follow instructions
He said GO/ but it is actually COME
The Lord called Moses and Aaron to see what He was about to do to Egypt and Pharaoh
Made Pharaoh’s heart heavy - God wants to demonstrate His ultimate power
These last three plagues are about the power of the HS
Locust symbolized the powerful and large enemy armies which completely destroyed the earnings of man’s toil (Jdg 6:5; Isa 33:4; Jer 46:23; 51:27; Nah 3:15).1
1 John W. Klotz, “Animals of the Bible,” ed. Charles F. Pfeiffer, Howard F. Vos, and John Rea, The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia (Moody Press, 1975).
So Moses: stretched out his hand toward heaven and there was thick darkness in all the LAND of Egypt for three days
Two important concepts
A- Death
B- Removal from the Garden
We talked about Israel being multiplied in Egypt, and leaving Egypt, and are going back to the ancestors’ plot of land
Cross Sign
Picture Jesus Reigning
We spoke about a third principle
Yeshua is the only one who can claim the land as inheritance because He is the only one who fulfilled the law, according to Numbers 25:39-34
In this Torah portion, I will present the meaning of Beshelach
I will give you an overall view of the Torah Portion and will zoom in on certain specific points
We did a presentation of this Torah Portion last year, and will suggest you listen to it in our Podcast
I hope to bring a different insight of the crossing of the Red Sea and explain why this is not a one time event
At the end- we will see the eschatological implications of the Exodus
Presentation
Presentation
Beshelach
Beshallah - When Set forth
Exodus 13:17-17:16
Send
8938 שָׁלַח (šā·lǎḥ): v.; ≡ Str 7971; TWOT 2394—1. LN 15.34–15.74 (qal) send out, dispatch, i.e., have an object leave an area by linear motion to another place, usually for a purpose (1Ki 5:28); (qal pass.) be sent (Ge 32:19[EB 18]; 1Ki 14:6; Jer 49:14; Eze 3:5; 23:40b+); (nif) be sent (Est 3:13+); (piel) send away (Ge 8:7); (pual) be sent away (Ge 44:3; Pr 17:11; Isa 50:1; Da 10:11; Ob 1+); (hif) send out, cause a messenger or entity to go out (Ex 8:17[EB 21]; Lev 26:22; 2Ki 15:37; Eze 14:13; Am 8:11+), note: this can refer to an event happening, see also domain LN 13.104–13.163; 2. LN 16 (qal) reach out, stretch out, i.e., the non-linear movement of a limb extending from a source (Ex 4:4); (qal pass.) be stretched out (Eze 2:9+); (piel) extend (Pr 31:20), note: the extension of the hand often refers taking an action, either in violence or help; 3. LN 37.127–37.138 (qal pass.) be set free, i.e., be released from the control of another (Ge 49:21+); (piel) let go, release (Lev 14:7); 4. LN 15.245 (qal) shoot, hurl, i.e., make a missile fly through the air, not under its own power (Ps 18:15[EB 14]); 5. LN 15.1–15.17 (piel) let stray, i.e., allow an object to wander to another area (Ex 22:4[EB 5]); 6. LN 23.188–23.196 (piel) let grow, i.e., have something become larger or longer (Eze 44:20), note: referring here to hair; 7. LN 68.34–68.57 (piel) end, stop, i.e., have an activity end or cease (Job 39:3); 8. LN 34.66–34.78 (piel) give a child in marriage, formally, send out, i.e., arrange a wedding for a child (Jdg 12:9); 9. LN 34.66–34.78 (piel) divorce, formally, send away, i.e., no longer be in a socially recognized marriage relationship (Dt 21:14); 10. LN 19.43–19.54 (pual) be thrust, i.e., pertaining to a pressing, pushing motion propelling oneself or another object (Jdg 5:15; Job 18:8; Isa 16:2+); 11. LN 35.54–35.56 (pual) be abandoned, desert, forsake, be left alone, i.e., not have attendance or care of an object, which may include physically leaving an area (Pr 29:15; Isa 27:10+), note: further study may yield more domains
James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
This refers when Pharaoh finally decides to sent Israel forth
This Torah portion is about the deliverance of Israel from Egypt
Includes only one prohibition commandment in Exodus 16:29
The splitting of the Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba)
the Song of the Sea called the Song of Moses,
the giving of the manna and the double portion principle to prepare us for Shabbat
the water from the Rock
the war with Amalek
Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”
Finally Pharaoh let them go - and Adonai led
God does not let them go by the way that would make them come back to Egypt
God was concerned about them changing their minds about leaving Egypt
Although they were armed when they left Egypt, war was not part of the plan for them
Nor had they trained to war
When Adonai sets us free, He does not send us into spiritual war because we will be tempted to go back to our old ways, since we are not prepared or sanctified for spiritual warfare yet. It would be too much to bear.
It is the person who shared the gospel with us who needs to help us do the warfare and learn
We need to be discipled
You see this pattern in the children of Israel: they are delivered and taken to the wilderness where they will learn the rules of engagement, and will learn what to do
Adonai had given them a promise in Abraham about being a nation - the chosen people
Moses reaffirmed Israel of this promise and casts out the vision of the promised land - a land with milk and honey
So Moses takes the body of Joseph with them - as he had commanded it to them to take his body
Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.
Moses fulfills that promise
And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”
These bones of Joseph represent a picture of the whole house of Israel as they point at a future day in prophecy that these bones will one day will rise and live again just as describe in Ezekiel 37
The bones represent the people of Israel scattered in diaspora all around the world that one day will come back together in latter day Israel - being reunited again as one body - Israel is even called Ephraim or Joseph in prophecy. This is what we are witnessing today. Moses represent Messiah concerned for the whole house of Israel.
So they take a journey stopping at Succoth and camping in Etham at the edge of the wilderness
So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness.
The Lord went before them, leading as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night - He gave them light all the time
They face the Red Sea in Chapter 14 which we will come back later in more detail
Previously mentioned in Exodus 3:18
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
“Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea.
Identified by the Targum as the Sea of Suph - also connecting it to the Gihon River in the Garden of Eden
After the plagues it seemed Israel would not have to face his oppressor again. But Pharaoh hardens his heart and goes in the pursue to follow Israel.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
“Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea.
For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’
Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
When we follow God, we are at times at situations as the Red Sea when we are afraid at times facing the enemy and an impossible circumstance and our only salvation is divine intervention
Israel would have been in a very dramatic situation as they just had been redeemed from Egypt and they seem to be overtaken by the enemy again, making the whole experience hopeless
But when facing the Red Sea, not only Israel was provided a way out by a miracle but they also lost their enemy the Egyptian Army, as God, in the process, destroyed them.
The same way God will provide a way out in the end times and will destroy our enemy the devil.
4 possible groups of people at this point among Israel.
1- the ones who believed God
2- the ones who wanted to fight
3- the ones who wanted to return
4- the ones who wanted to confuse Israel
According to the Targum Ch 14:13
Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?
Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”
The theme of death drawing near the children of God, again.
And Moses calls them to the realization of Salvation
And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.
Forever?
Has Israel not ever seen Egypt again?
What is this possibly hinting?
The final battle?
The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
Stretch out your hand- the children of Israel will walk on dry land:
And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
The Lord will cause to walk on dry ground in the middle of the sea
We know that sea in the Bible symbolically means people - That is true
Why is this idea of walking in the middle of the water so important?
Some people do not like to see the outcome of God’s work. Sometimes it does not look pretty, but He is in complete sovereign control
Not all who had come out of Egypt had received the redemption in the Passover. They had gone through the experience but their heart was still unchanged
Many followed the cloud and were baptized in the cloud and in the Sea, but were not part of Spiritual Israel - only those who believe by faith in the redemption are truly redeemed.
Only those who have faith will be able to stand when trials come
And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.
So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.
To the Egyptians - darkness
To Israel - light
To Israel blessing
To Egypt - trembling
There was a separation of those who are His and who are not
How did God accomplish this?
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.”
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained.
But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.
Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, And His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.
He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.
Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one who is slain; You have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.
Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
He will stretch out His arm
Do not fear - but Trust the Lord that He will implement His salvation: Yeshuah
And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.
יְשׁוּעָה (yešû·ʿā(h))
3802 יְשׁוּעָה (yešû·ʿā(h)): n.fem. [see also 3802.5]; ≡ Str 3444; TWOT 929b—1. LN 21.9–21.13 deliverance, safety, rescue, i.e., to be in a state of freedom from danger (Ex 14:13); 2. LN 21.25–21.32 salvation, i.e., deliverance in a religious sense (Ps 62:2[EB 1]); 3. LN 39.52–39.61 victory, i.e., the act. of conquering another entity (2Sa 22:51); 4. LN 12.1–12.42 Savior, i.e., a title of God (Dt 32:15; Ps 42:6[EB 5],12[EB 11]; 43:5; 68:20[EB 19]; 89:27[EB 26])1
1 James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
In the Targum - it tells us that Adonai through even flakes of fire and hail - very similar to the 7th plague which is called the fall of Babylon in Revelation
For Israel going through the Red Sea is a type of mikvah - which is the pool to enter and receive a cleanse. This provided that separation for Israel from the world and they became separate from Egypt
They raised from the water in to a new life, a new hope
As new people
Type and a shadow of us believers
We die to self and dive in the waters of baptism where we bury the old man
We rise up to a new life by the power of Yeshua’s resurrection
The picture: death to self and resurrected into a new life
Mikvah represent redemption from the power of death and of this world - 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
And Romans 6:3-11
buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
One of the major problems we have in reading the Bible is faced by our Western mentality
When we talk about events of the Lord, or even of people in the Bible and even in our own lives, we tend to believe things can only happen once.
Yes - the Lord defeated the enemy on the cross as presented in Colossians 2:15
Does the Lord only defeat the enemy once?
Do we serve a God who only does things once?
If Yeshua has defeated the enemy why is the enemy still at work?
The same way Colossians 2:15 is giving an account of the enemy being defeated and disarmed so is the account in Exodus
The reason I must bring to your attention how limiting our Western mentality is, is because of the following summaries of this Torah Portion
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: “I will sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!
This verses is one of the places where the Lord introduces the concept of Resurrection
I am not going to speak about it today, since I already did this last year
If you do not remember it, I suggest you go back to this same Torah portion from last year or ask during Midrash
The topic of the resurrection although fulfilled by Yeshua, still is a topic we must continue to talk about and experience
We face the same problem with the concept of the Bread of Life, represented in the the concept:
The manna that comes from heaven
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.
We see the fulfilment of this in John
This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.
We believe that just because Yeshua said in John, I am the bread of life who has come down. His coming down has concluded because He already fulfilled that and it is over.
What about this other scripture?
And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
I explained this concept when we talked about Jacob’s ladder
I explained this concept when I explained Genesis 1:6-7
Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
I also explained how the feasts which follow the seasons was related to this cycle
So is it possible that the Crossing of the Red Sea is not only a picture of a one time event what there is more significance than what we have read or even told?
when God Set us Forth, He is not going to stop
Beshelach
Beshallah - When Set forth
Send
being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
When we use this verse most of the time we only quote the first part of the verse
We do not stop to think what it means
If He is not coming back to complete the work, what is the purpose of His coming back
Why do we celebrate Shabbat and say Maranatha?
Are we expecting Him again?
What for?
I believe He is coming back to complete the good work
Let me explain
RED SEA
Identified by the Targum as the Sea of Suph - also connecting it to the Gihon River in the Garden of Eden
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.
The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush.
The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Gulf of Acaba
Exodus 23:31
Aqaba — The region on the northeastern end of the Red Sea. The Gulf of Aqaba is the easternmost prong of the Red Sea.1
1 Douglas Mangum, The Lexham Glossary of Theology (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
Red Sea = Yam Suph = Sea of Reeds=Sea of Destruction (Sopha) = Sea of End
Sea (יָם = yam)
Sea (יָם, yam). A large body of water. Also used in Scripture to describe the primordial state of the world and as a metaphor for evil.
Literal Uses
In the Hebrew Bible, the word “sea” (יָם, yam) is primarily used to refer to bodies of water, including:
• the Red Sea
And the Lord turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt.
They moved from the Red Sea and camped in the Wilderness of Sin.
The Salt Sea (Dead Sea)
All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).
the Mediterranean Sea.
As the largest of these bodies of water, the Mediterranean often is referred to simply as “the sea” (Gen 49:13; Judg 5:17) or “the great sea” (Josh 9:1).
And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts of the Great Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—heard about it,
Because of the Mediterranean’s western location in relation to Israel, the word “sea” also came to be used to refer to the western direction (Gen 12:8; Exod 10:19).
The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) and the New Testament use the Greek word for “sea” or “lake” (θάλασσα, thalassa) in reference to bodies of water.
Figurative Uses
The West Semitic word “sea” (יָם, yam) is often used in parallel with the term “deep” (תְּהוֹם, tehom) in biblical poetry, a cognate with the Babylonian term Tiʾāmat. The word “water” (מַיִם, mayim) can also be used in parallel.
“deep” (תְּהוֹם, tehom)
“water” (מַיִם, mayim)
Red Sea:
(Yam Suph)
But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.’
Deuteronomy 2:1
Numbers 14:25
Numbers 21:4
And (TEHOM)
And with the blast of Your nostrils The waters were gathered together; The floods stood upright like a heap; The depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
Psalm 77:16
Isaiah 43:16
The Sea as Primordial Chaos
In some Old Testament passages, the term “sea” (יָם, yam) is used to refer to the chaotic abyss that was the original state of the world prior to creation.
This primordial (first created) sea was believed to have covered the whole earth (Gen 1:1–2:4a; Pss 18; 29; 89; Job 9:8; 26:12–13).
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
He alone spreads out the heavens, And treads on the waves of the sea;
The motif (theme) of a primordial (first created) battle between the storm god and the sea existed throughout the ancient Near East (Green, The Storm-God) and in Indo-European religions (Ara, Eschatology, 105–107).
The war resulted in the creation of the earth, as the dry land was separated from the waters.
The storm god’s victory over the waters brought order out of the chaos, yet disorder was always believed to loom in the periphery. Walton notes that ancient people imagined the primordial sea as encircling the earth like a serpent (Walton 2006: 166–167).
I hope you would realize by now that Moses, by the stretched hand of God, separated the waters to defeat the enemy Pharaoh, whose symbol is a serpent
God did not separate the waters only in Genesis but also during the Exodus - He seems to do things over again.
Yahweh’s Cosmic Enemies
In the Bible, Yahweh assumes the role of the storm god who defeats the cosmic enemies
seen in the form of a sea serpent or dragon (תַּנִּין, tannin; נָחָשׁ, nachash)
Dragon called Leviathan (לִוְיָתָן, liwyathan) or Rahab (רַהַב, rahav).
“Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?
Can you put a reed through his nose, Or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you?
Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him as a servant forever?
This verse indicates that Leviathan became Yahweh’s servant after he was weakened in battle.
The Bible also communicates the idea that Yahweh stores the elements of nature in storehouses (Psa 33:7; Job 38:22–23).
In the flood event, Yahweh unleashes the waters of the sea upon the earth and then orders them back in place (Gen 7:11; 8:1–2).
The clearest extrabiblical parallel to this imagery is the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, where equivalents for “sea” (יָם, yam, =ym), “deep” (תְּהוֹם, tehom, =thmt), “sea serpent” (תַּנִּין, tannin, =tnn), and “Leviathan” (לִוְיָתָן, liwyathan, =ltn) have been identified (Day, God’s Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea). In the Babylonian creation epic, Enuma Elish, Tiʾāmat is a cognate of “depths” (תְּהֹמֹת, tehomoth).
1 Daniel Sarlo, “Sea,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
Leviathan (לִוְיָתָן, liwyathan). One of the Hebrew names for the sea monster of ancient Near Eastern mythology that represented the forces of chaos held in check by the power of the creator deity. Sometimes rendered “sea monster” or “dragon” in modern English biblical translations.
Leviathan in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish Literature
Leviathan is mentioned by name six times in the Hebrew Bible (Job 3:8; 41:1; Pss 74:14; 104:26; Isa 27:1). Most of these passages assert or allude to Yahweh’s power and control over the sea monster.
The mythological background of the deity battling and defeating a sea monster (i.e., the Chaoskampf motif) is most evident in Psa 74:14 and Isa 27:1.
The only detailed physical description of Leviathan in the Bible is found in Job 41, which describes a powerful and fearsome creature that cannot be tamed or subdued by human power. According to this passage, Leviathan has fearsome teeth (Job 41:14) and impenetrable scales (Job 41:15–17); it breathes out fire and smoke (Job 41:18–21) and breaks through iron and bronze as though it were straw or rotting wood (Job 41:27). Warriors will retreat from Leviathan when all their weapons have proved useless against it (Job 41:25–29).
Dragon imagery plays a role in later apocalyptic texts, where God’s defeat of the sea monster represents His ultimate eschatological victory over all the forces of evil and chaos. Leviathan appears in this sense in the apocryphal book of 2 Esdras (2 Esdras 6:49–52)
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989),
“Then you kept in existence two living creatures; the one you called Behemoth and the name of the other Leviathan.
And you separated one from the other, for the seventh part where the water had been gathered together could not hold them both.
And you gave Behemoth one of the parts that had been dried up on the third day, to live in it, where there are a thousand mountains;
but to Leviathan you gave the seventh part, the watery part; and you have kept them to be eaten by whom you wish, and when you wish.
and in the pseudepigraphical books of 1 Enoch (1 Enoch 60:7–10, 24) and 2 Baruch (2 Baruch 29:4).1
1 Douglas Mangum and Matthew James Hamilton, “Leviathan,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
Israel’s Military Enemies
The metaphor of the sea as chaos is also extended to Israel’s military enemies, as they too represent chaos. For example, Egypt is called Rahab (רַהַב, rahav; Isa 30:7; Ps 87:4), and both Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar II are compared to a “dragon” or “monster” (תַּנִּין, tannin; Ezek 29:3–5, 32:2–8; Jer 51:34).
In several instances the exodus is compared to the primeval battle, as in Isa 51:9–10, where Yahweh’s defeat of Rahab (רַהַב, rahav) and “the dragon” (תַּנִּין, tannin) is a metaphor for the plagues against Egypt and His separation of the sea (יָם, yam) or “deep” (תְּהוֹם, tehom) is a metaphor for His parting of the Red Sea. The Song of the Sea (Exod 15:1–21) also links the waters of the Red Sea to the primordial waters of creation.
So, what is the implication of the Red Sea crossing in the end times?
The Sea in Eschatology
The final destruction of all evil is closely linked to the sea and serpent imagery. Isaiah 27:1 says that Yahweh will ultimately defeat Leviathan.
In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.
In the book of Daniel, the evil world powers are symbolized by hybrid monsters rising up from the sea (Dan 7:1–13). The story culminates with the slaughter of these beasts and the establishment of everlasting divine order on earth.
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.
Daniel spoke, saying, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.
And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.
The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
“And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’
“After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.
“I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire;
A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened.
“I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
“I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
This notion of the final destruction of evil—and the taming of the primordial sea—is emphasized in the New Testament, especially in the book of Revelation, but foreshadowed by Jesus’ walking on the water and calming of the storm in the Gospels.
Walking on Water
Matthew 14:22-34
Mark 6:45-53
John 6:15-21
Calming the storm
Matthew 8:23-27
Mark 4:35-41
Luke 8:22-25
As we have seen so far, this is not a new testament creation. Both Moses and Elijah were given power over the sea
But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.”
Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”
Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.
Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
The Book of Revelation envisions the day when the serpent will be imprisoned in the “abyss” (ἄβυσσος, abyssos; Rev 20:3)—the equivalent of “deep” (תְּהוֹם, tehom) in Hebrew—
and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
Abyssos - “deep” (תְּהוֹם, tehom)
and ultimately destroyed (Rev 20:10).
The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
The result is a world without chaos:
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Here, chaos is such an overwhelming force that the entire universe must be destroyed in order for a new one to be created (Smith, The Priestly Vision of Genesis 1, 22).1
1 Daniel Sarlo, “Sea,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
Closing
Closing
The same way Pharaoh was crushed by the stretched hand of God, the same way that serpent of old will be crushed at the end.
The same way the sea represented chaos in Egypt, the same way, there will be no sea in the earth
Isaiah says it this way:
“Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, You who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
Look to Abraham your father, And to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone, And blessed him and increased him.”
For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the Lord; Joy and gladness will be found in it, Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
“Listen to Me, My people; And give ear to Me, O My nation: For law will proceed from Me, And I will make My justice rest As a light of the peoples.
My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, And My arms will judge the peoples; The coastlands will wait upon Me, And on My arm they will trust.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished.
“Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, You people in whose heart is My law: Do not fear the reproach of men, Nor be afraid of their insults.
For the moth will eat them up like a garment, And the worm will eat them like wool; But My righteousness will be forever, And My salvation from generation to generation.”
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! Awake as in the ancient days, In the generations of old. Are You not the arm that cut Rahab apart, And wounded the serpent?
Are You not the One who dried up the sea, The waters of the great deep; That made the depths of the sea a road For the redeemed to cross over?
יהוה
(Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh)
The Lord used all these plagues to demonstrate the He is: (Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh)
Commonly known as Lord
Yahweh
YHWH
Adonai
Picture Jesus Reigning
Shabbat Shalom