In Blog 54, we saw ancient Israel passing through the underworld, the abode of the serpent, from bearings taken from Baal-Zapon (Lord of the North). Then, YHWH took Israel beyond the grave through a rebirth in Yam Suph’s mighty waters, leading His nation to His holy mountain from bearings taken from Mount Zion, north of Mount Sinai (Psa. 48:1-3). The biblical pattern of going through a water ordeal to the mountain of God to worship was a common theme in the ancient Near East (ANE) literature¹.

At creation, God brought the earth out of the waters on the third day and planted a garden in Eden on a mountain from which flowed forth rivers that gave life to the land. God put Adam into the garden of His Presence to eat from the Tree of Life in worship of Him. After Adam and Eve’s disobedience and exile from God’s Presence, they entered the realm of death, the dwelling place of the devil and all that is evil. By looking at the ANE culture, we can better understand the scriptural use of the water ordeal to re-enter God’s sacred space and worship upon His holy mountain in His Presence as an element of the exodus.

ANE culture saw their world in three tiers, heaven, earth, and the sea, as does the Biblical cosmology (Gen. 1; Psa. 36:5-6; 135:6; Phl. 2:10; Rev. 5:3, 13). Heaven was where the elohim (gods) lived. The mountain was the first to rise out of the deeps, a source of water and fertilizing rivers, and reaching into the heavens, it became the means to connect with the gods and be safe from the chaotic waters. The sea, the great enemy of order, belonged to the underworld (Sheol), the silent abode of the dead.

Hammurabi’s Law Code defined the process of rendering a verdict for an accused person by the hands of the divine judge. The accused person threw himself into the river, and if the river overpowered him, he was guilty and entered Sheol, the accuser receiving his estate. If the accused person emerged from the waters, it signified his innocence. Since the waters surrounded the mountain of god, at the foot or gate of the mountain, judgment was pronounced. Failure to take the water ordeal resulted in fines paid at the gate of the mountain². Ancient Israel held similar concepts, “The threat of death is associated with the raging cosmic waters, which in Israel are understood to be under Yahweh’s control. The appeal of the victim is thus to Yahweh as judge. As might be expected in an Israelite adaptation of this cosmology, there is no question of the River’s functioning independently…. [I]t is Yahweh who is responsible for the deliverance from the waters.” ³

As during the plagues, YHWH made a distinction between Egypt and Israel at the sea crossing, exacting judgment. But God’s firstborn nation rebelled at the sea, showing they thought much like the Egyptians,⁴ worshiping feckless gods. It was not just an external foe but an internal enemy that must be conquered. The children of Israel, seeing Egypt’s war machine ready to destroy them, chose slavery to Egypt’s gods over death, even though enslavement to those gods also meant death. Something had to change Israel’s mind and heart from fearing and serving the Egyptians.

Afraid of Egypt, Israel did not yet see YHWH fighting their battles for them. The blood of the lamb at Passover that had sanctified and spared their firstborns now spared them from the judgment of death in the sea. Israel saw the salvation of YHWH in the sea crossing, and they saw the destruction of their enemy in the sea (Exo. 14:13). Crossing the sea baptized them unto Moses (Moses, a type of Christ; 1Co. 10:2) and proclaimed the Israelites’ transformation of heart, dying to their Egyptian lifestyle to live a life of loyalty to YHWH. With evil and death closing in behind them, Israel had to conquer their fear by obedient faith, walking in the direction of the blowing wind in the darkness of night, following Yeshua’s pillar of the Abrahamic covenant through the sea. Peter spoke of a baptism that saves us because it reflects a heart of faithfulness and allegiance to YHWH while proclaiming the defeat and demise of our enslaving adversaries by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1Pe. 3:18-22). Through Yeshua’s death and resurrection baptism (Luk. 12:50), He conquered rebellion’s hold on us, bearing away our sin and its cost by His crucifixion, judging us as innocent. Traversing from death to life through the waters of baptism is a death to self and our rising/rebirth in Christ. YHWH is our Savior and Judge through the water ordeal. He is with us, covering us with His righteousness, while the fallen angels (Pharaoh with his army) are covered with waters of death. Because Israel saw YHWH’s salvation in the Yam Suph ordeal, they became His distinct, holy kingdom of priests.

The process of creating Israel into His holy nation involved a refining and purifying process with fire and water. From Egypt’s fiery furnace to the sea crossing, YHWH laid affliction on Israel, testing and proving them as silver to keep them among the living, ultimately to enter through His gates to dwell on His holy mountain with Him in glory. The Psalmist expressed it, “You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but You brought us out to rich fulfillment” (Psa. 66:12). By YHWH’s salvation of Israel in Yam Suph, Israel received His blessing of righteousness to ascend the mountain of Eden, becoming the city on a hill with its light shining out to all nations.

Isaiah 43:1-3 [theme of the second exodus]
But now, thus says YHWH, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; You are Mine.
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.
3 For I am YHWH your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; [emphasis mine]

Takeaway:
With the ANE culture as a backdrop to Israel’s Yam Suph crossing and the Egyptians’ demise, the event announces to the earth’s inhabitants who YHWH is. He is the Elohim, the Judge of the water ordeal. With their faith and trust in YHWH, Israel safely passed through the sea, having been sanctified by the lamb’s blood and belonging to YHWH, who, in His mercy, judged them without guilt on the merit of His sacrifice. The Egyptians, worshiping their gods, bore their own guilt and perished. YHWH refined Israel through fire and water, fought their battles, conquering evil without and within, and taught them to “fear not, for I am with you.” Living through the 9.7-mile Yam Suph water ordeal was to experience the gospel of the Kingdom of God, Yeshua’s saving of humanity, and the destruction of our enemies.

Fun Factors:
Isaiah 43:2a’s “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you” has 8 words of 31 letters, a sum of 2401, 7⁴, or 7² × 7². By YHWH’s judgment of mercy, He takes us into the fourth dimension of seven, His Presence. Forty-nine, 7², is the mark of the seven-Sabbath journey from the wavesheaf offering to the mountain of God.

As did Adam in Eden, Abraham walked with YHWH (7²), making him blameless (tamim, 490). Genesis 17:1’s “I am El Shaddai, walk before me and be blameless” has 7 words totaling 1552, 2⁴ × 97, 36² + 16², the tabernacle (36) of His House (16). From Blog 54, Exodus 14:13 is marked by 97 letters, the sum of which is a factor of 97. Falling midweek to the first Sabbath of the count, the remarkable phenomenon of the Yam Suph crossing is 9.7 miles. Nine indicates judgment, and seven denotes completeness. The judgment of Pharaoh and his army (Satan and the fallen angels) was complete; they ceased to exist (the definition of suph; no new creation). YHWH’s judgment of Israel was life (salvation; new creation) through baptism into Yeshua’s death and resurrection, renouncing the gods of death and pledging allegiance to the God of light.