Oh LORD God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them~Psalm 89:8-9.
From the Ancient Near Eastern perspective, water can be good or bad. For instance, water can be destructive to an agricultural society, and it can also bring prosperity. Waters can flood, bringing death, but also birth new life. Waters can be stagnant and bitter, causing sickness, but they are also essential for health and healing. Water symbolizes many things in the Bible. For one, it can describe nations, like Egypt. (Jr 46.7-8). It can symbolize chaos or an unruly force of nature (Gn 1.2). Some scriptures poetically describe waters as emotions that flood the soul (Ps 124.4). The Bible uses living water as a symbol for life-giving words (Pr 18.4). The author of Isaiah 57 describes the wicked as troubled waters that do not rest. Waters can represent God’s judgment as well as salvation. Sometimes, the judgment of one person or people is the salvation of another. Am I making you thirsty yet? Why all of this talk of water? The next Torah Portion in review is Beshalach and encompasses Exodus 13:17-17:16, where we find the crossing of the Red Sea. The enemy in this portion is water, representing enemies, sorrow or overwhelming internal pain, death, judgment, or lack of understanding.
Returning to the Bible’s beginning, we find the Spirit of God hovering over the chaotic waters. This picture begins with a story of a Creator who has mastery over the unruly seas.
Genesis 1:2: 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.
Psalm 18:11: He made darkness His secret place; His canopy around Him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
Psalm 29:3: The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders; The LORD is over many waters.
After God creates and rules over the waters, we next see that He divides them. You can read about this in Genesis 1:6. God divides the upper waters from the lower waters. What kind of superpower allows someone to divide hydrogen molecules? The upper waters are the living waters where the word and presence of the Holy One sustain, and the lower waters are the realm of humanity. In the lower waters, humans rely on economic, political, military, educational, or any other earthly system for sustenance.
On the third day, we see God gathering the waters. Again, if you master water, you can divide it and call it back together.
Genesis 1:9: Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear,” and it was so.
Amos 9:6: He who builds His layers in the sky, and has founded His strata in the earth; Who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth—The Lord is His name.
On the fourth day of creation, God placed authorities into the firmament of the waters. The stars symbolized the judges or elders of Israel, whom God called to establish righteousness and justice for the nation through their judgments. Dwelling in the heavens or upper waters can describe places of authority in the Bible.
Genesis 1:17-18: God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
On the fifth day of creation, Elohim filled the upper and lower waters with kingdom subjects. Birds abide in the upper waters, where God’s word sustains and protects them. The upper waters should describe the Kingdom of God. Fish abide in the lower waters of human sustenance. Fish often symbolize the subjects of the nations.
The sixth day describes man and beast kings whom God formed and gave dominion over the earth. Beasts rule with the power of their understanding, knowledge, and resources. God desired Adam to rule by his Spirit, the Divine Breath that separated him from the beast. Kings plant the seed of the kingdom they represent. So we have kings who plant the seed of the kingdom by the waters so that the roots grow deep and the kingdom flourishes. The biblical language is not just descriptive, it is poetic and filled with creative imagery that we must understand within context to fully appreciate its beauty and depth.
Jeremiah 17:8: For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Ezekiel 17:8: It was planted in good soil by many waters to bring forth branches, bear fruit, and become a majestic vine.
Matthew 13:37: The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man (Adam).
Notice in the above verse, there is a good seed and a bad one. Think about the two trees in Galatians 5, one represents the flesh or humanity, and one represents the Spirit. In this Torah portion, there is a re-creation pattern. The Ruach becomes a cloud that hovers over the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea) as the Israelites walk under it (1 Cor 10.2). The cloud was also a wall that divides between the Israelites and the Egyptians (Ex 14.19-20). Afterwards, God uses Moses to gather the waters so the Israelites could walk through on dry land. The Exodus describes Pharaoh and his minions drowning in the water, almost returning to the lower waters they were originally assigned to. The Israelites start to sing a song of praise, which happens in the upper waters as it tells us in Psalm 148.4, “Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens!”. Moses foreshadows the Lamb who leads people to the living waters of Mt. Sinai, where God gives His word to guide and sustain the Israelites in the wilderness. Living waters represent the word of God.
Revelation 7:17: For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
We are vessels of living water. When we speak kind, loving, gentle truth to others, we pour out living water.
Proverbs 18:4: The words of a man’s mouth [are] deep waters; The wellspring of wisdom [is] a flowing brook.
There are also bitter waters. These types of water make others sick. They could include deceit, criticism and hateful or angry words that cut like knives in our souls. As vessels of living water, we praise. Praise is like rain; it feeds whatever seeds have been planted inside of our hearts. When the emotional floods overwhelm us, we can never forget that God will not let us drown.
Isaiah 43:2: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.
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