The sea of chaos

Jonah 1 “And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Get up! Go to the great city Nineveh and cry out against her, because their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah set out to flee toward Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. And he went down to Joppa and found a merchant ship going to Tarshish, and paid her fare, and went on board her to go with them toward Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. And Yahweh hurled a great wind upon the sea, and it was a great storm on the sea, and the merchant ship was in danger of breaking up. And the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they threw the contents that were in the merchant ship into the sea to lighten it for them. And meanwhile Jonah went down into the hold of the vessel and lay down and fell asleep. And the captain of the ship approached him and said to him, “Why are you sound asleep? Get up! Call on your god! Perhaps your god will take notice of us and we won’t perish!” And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots so that we may know on whose account this disaster has come on us!” And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. So they said to him, “Please tell us whoever is responsible that this disaster has come upon us! What is your occupation? And from where do you come? What is your country? And from which people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were greatly afraid, and they said to him, “What is this you have done?” because they knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh (because he had told them). So they said to him, “What shall we do to you so that the sea may quiet down for us?” because the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. And he said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea so that the sea may quiet down for you, because I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you all.” But the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to the dry land, and they could not do so because the sea was growing more and more tempestuous against them. So they cried out to Yahweh, and they said, “O Yahweh! Please do not let us perish because of this man’s life, and do not make us guilty of innocent blood, because you, O Yahweh, did what you wanted.” And they picked Jonah up and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. So the men feared Yahweh greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made vows. And Yahweh provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

Intro: Leviathan & the Sea

Job 3:8 “Let those who curse the day curse it, those who are skilled at rousing Leviathan.”

Job 41:1 ““Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Or can you tie down its mouth with a cord?”

Psalm 74:14 “You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food to the desert dwelling creatures.”

Psalm 104:26 “There the ships sail. Leviathan is there that you formed to play with.”

Isaiah 27:1 “On that day, Yahweh will punish with his cruel, great and strong sword Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and he will kill the sea monster that is in the sea.”

The sea: In the ancient world the sea represented chaos, and Leviathan was one of those creatures in that world, that represented it.

Job 26:12 “By his power he stilled the sea, and by his understanding he struck down Rahab.”

The sea and the Exodus Psalm 74:13 “You split open the sea by your strength; You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.”

The sea, used for God’s will (Paul and the storm) or to carry worldly powers

Mastery of the sea:

Exodus

Jesus - asleep in the bow of the ship. Matthew 8:27 “And the men were astonished, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?””

Paul - Acts 27:13–17 “And when a southwest wind began to blow gently, because they thought they could accomplish their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed close along Crete. But not long afterward a wind like a hurricane, called the northeaster, rushed down from it. And when the ship was caught and was not able to head into the wind, we gave way and were driven along. And running under the lee of a certain small island called Cauda, we were able with difficulty to get the ship’s boat under control. After hoisting it up, they made use of supports to undergird the ship. And because they were afraid lest they run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and thus were driven along.”

How is chaos represented today?

The mass media - like the sea in the ancient world, can be used for good or evil.