{"id":78490,"date":"2020-08-05T19:36:37","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T16:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78490"},"modified":"2020-08-05T19:36:37","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T16:36:37","slug":"god-rebukes-the-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-rebukes-the-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"God \u201cRebukes\u201d the Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"78490","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"540","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Theology meets mythology\r\n\r\n","content":"

In our introduction to Joel<\/span><\/a>, we noted that according to Seder Olam, the tannaitic record of Jewish history, Nahum, along with Joel and Habakuk, prophesied during the reign of King Manasseh (697-643 BCE), whose name was not mentioned explicitly on account of his evildoing. Since his prophecy concerned Nineveh, which was destroyed in 612 BCE, and invited a comparison with Thebes (called <\/span>No Amon<\/span><\/i> in 3:8-10), which was destroyed in 663 BCE, his prophecy seems to fit into that time frame. The opening verse calls him \u201cthe Elkoshite,\u201d which can be the name of either a place or family, neither of which can be identified.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Nineveh features prominently in the prophecy of Jonah, too, it is not surprising that the Aramaic Targum Yonatan, in its rendition of the opening verse, interpolated: \u201cPreviously, Jonah ben Amitai, the prophet from Gat Hefer, prophesied about it and it repented of its sins. Now that it resumed sinning, it was addressed prophetically a second time by Nahum of the Elkosh family, as recorded in this book.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After stipulating God\u2019s well-known attributes of wreaking vengeance on His enemies while showing compassion towards His devotees (2-3), Nahum added: \u201cHe travels in whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust on His feet. He rebukes (<\/span>go`er<\/span><\/i>) the sea and dries it up\u2026\u201d (3-4). What wrong did the sea commit that called for a rebuke?<\/span><\/p>\n

In Tanakh, God occasionally appears to have had a long-standing grudge against the sea, one that led Him to limit its purview (Job 38:8-11: \u201cWho closed the sea behind doors\u2026 and said, you may come so far but no farther\u201d) and still its tempestuous waters (Ps. 65:8). Folklorists draw our attention to the role played in the Mesopotamian creation myth by the sea goddess Tihamat in her vain struggle with the sky god Marduk. We need look no further than Gen. 1:2 to be reminded that not only was there a primordial sea (\u201ca divine wind hovered over the face of the water\u201d), but \u201cdarkness was upon the face of <\/span>tehom<\/span><\/i> (depth),\u201d a name related to that of the aforementioned goddess.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi (citing Isaiah 17:12) avoided the question by submitting that the sea symbolizes the idolatrous nations and Yosef Kara identified it as the splitting of the Red Sea. Ibn Ezra also took it figuratively, saying: \u201cNext, he related God\u2019s might over the sea and land, which no one can withstand,\u201d and Radak, combining\u2014as usual\u2014the two earlier exegetical streams of thought, wrote: \u201cHow can He not have His way with the kings of Assyria when He can rebuke the sea, which is the most mighty of all earthly creations? Whenever He desires, He can turn it into dry land as He did with the Red Sea.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":78491,"id":78491,"title":"nah1-storm","filename":"nah1-storm.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-rebukes-the-sea\/nah1-storm\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"nah1-storm","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":78490,"date":"2020-08-05 16:36:12","modified":"2023-09-28 05:25:04","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1279,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1023,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1279,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-1200x799.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":799,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"God \u201cRebukes\u201d the Sea","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Theology meets mythology","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":78491,"id":78491,"title":"nah1-storm","filename":"nah1-storm.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-rebukes-the-sea\/nah1-storm\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"nah1-storm","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":78490,"date":"2020-08-05 16:36:12","modified":"2023-09-28 05:25:04","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1279,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1023,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1279,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-1200x799.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":799,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nah1-storm-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78490"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78492,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78490\/revisions\/78492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}