Today's Scripture
Insight
The Hebrew word yâm, translated “sea” in Psalm 107:23, occurs nearly four hundred times in the Old Testament. The root word from which yâm is derived means “to roar.” As is the case in Psalm 107:23, on many occasions, the word is used of bodies of water—seas, rivers, lakes, etc. However, biblical uses of the word sea also aptly picture chaos—roaring, troublesome, untamed waters (see Psalm 46:2–3). Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia comments: “To the land-loving Hebrews the sea was a dangerous and stormy place, and it furnished an apt simile for the troubled, restless soul of the sinner (Isaiah 57:20) and for the rebellious, seething nations of the world (Daniel 7:2; Matthew 13:47; Revelation 13:1).” With such an understanding, some Bible scholars interpret the phrase “there was no longer any sea” in Revelation 21:1 to mean the absence of “restless godlessness.”
By: Arthur Jackson
Comments