This Bible lesson develops the Old Testament roots for Jesus’ statement in John 3: 'no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the spirit.' Read more at http://www.hamashal.org/bible-study-topics/

1. Pentateuch Story of Baptism
For Ed Case III
July 23, 2012

2. The Pentateuch’s Story of Baptism
In this presentation, we will interpret the Christian concept of baptism from its
“roots” in the Pentateuch. This will require us to consider some of the New
Testament Greek in order to explain the interpretation. The New Testament can
be helpful in revealing “mysteries” in the Pentateuch and elsewhere in the Old
Testament. The “story of baptism” takes various forms in the Pentateuch without
“explicitly using” the Greek word, “baptizo,” to describe the story of Yahweh. So,
in order to consider baptism, we must first look at its occurrence in the Greek of
the New Testament.
A. New Testament References
1. 1 Peter 3:20 refers back to the Flood in the days of Noah. (Slide 1)
a. This verse focuses on what happens to the few who enter the Ark that Theos
prepared. The last two hemistiches contain the “essential” information that will
make sense as we consider the “true meaning” of baptism.
b. The Greek text is “literally” translated, “eight souls,” and these were the
members of Noah’s family. The Greek, Strong’s #5590, is the “standard” word
for “psucha, soul” and is the “equivalent” to the Hebrew word, “nefes.”
c. Note that the “focus” of Theos’ preparation of an ark was for these “eight
souls.” It is “not” their “bodies or their spirits” that is the “focus” of His work: it
is their souls!!!!!
d. Also note that this work “saved” their souls using a Greek “prepositional”
phrase, “through water.” In the Greek New Testament, the use of prepositions is
important. The Greek preposition, “dee-a,” is “deliberately” chosen to indicate
that the “water is the means” through which the “salvation of their souls” takes
place.
e. In verse 20, the verb in the last hemistich is a compound word made up of the
preposition, “dee-a, through,” and the verb, Strong’s #4982, “to save.” (Slide 2)
2. In the second hemistich in 1 Peter 3:21, the verb “without” the preposition,
“dee-a,” is used: “baptism” now saves.

3. ἀπειθήσασίν ποτε ὅτε ἅπαξ ἐξεδέχετο
disobeying-ones [#544] then [#4218] when [#3753] waited [#1551]
ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ μακροθυμία
the of-the Theos [#2316] longsuffering [#3115]
ἐν ἡμέραις Νῶε
in [#1722] days [#2250] of-Noe [#3575]
κατασκευαζομένης κιβωτοῦ
being-prepared [#2680] ark [#2787]
εἰς ἣν ὀλίγαι
‘eight souls’
into [#1519] which [#3739] few [#3641]
τουτέστιν ὀκτὼ ψυχαί
that-is [#5123] eight [#3638] souls [#5590]
διεσώθησαν δι᾽ ὕδατος
were-saved [#1295] through [#1223] water [#5204]
‘through water’

4. ὃ καὶ ἡμᾶς ἀντίτυπον
which [#3739] and us [#2248] antitype [#499]
νῦν σῴζει βάπτισμα
now [#3568] saves [#4982] baptism [#908]
οὐ σαρκὸς ἀπόθεσις ῥύπου
not of-flesh [#4561] putting-off [#595] filth [#4509]
ἀλλὰ συνειδήσεως ἀγαθῆς ἐπερώτημα
‘antitype’
but [#235] conscience [#4893] good [#18] answer [#1908]
εἰς θεόν
into [#1519] Theos [#2316]
δι᾽ ἀναστάσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
through [#1223] resurrection [#386] Jesus [#2424] Christ [#5547]

5. a. In the days of Noah, the “wicked” are a “ransom” for the “righteous.” The
“model” of baptismwas an “anti-tupos, an antitype.” The water which then
“destroyed” now “saves” us.
b. The “contrast” between the “destroying force” of the waters of the deep and
waters of the heavens and the “waters now” used to destroy, “khatta-flesh –
sin flesh,” is explained in Romans 6 as the “burial in the likeness” of Jesus death.
[I need a fuller explanation of this Romans 6 reference as well as how 1
Corinthians 12:13 fits into the model!!!!]
B. Old Testament References
1. As we have previously discussed, the eight souls in the Ark “cohabit” the Ark
that Noah builds that contains the land creatures and birds. (Slide 3)
a. A careful examination of Genesis 6:14 reveals an “important detail” that will
aid us in interpreting what we read in 1 Peter 3. The Ark is “lined with a sealant”
that is “smeared” on the boards of the “woods of gofer.” The sealant is
frequently translated as “pitch” in English.
b. In the last two hemistiches of Genesis 6:14, the verb, Strong’s #3722, “kaw-far,”
is used “together” with a noun derived from it, Strong’s #3724, “kofer.” The
noun is the word that is associated with “atonement” in the Tabernacle Structure
and its rituals.
c. Gesenius reveals that this “pitch or kofer” is the “same word” that is used in
Exodus 30:12 for the “redemption silver” that was used to make the 100 pillar
sockets and the chapiters on the top of the copper pillars. As Gesenius notes, it is
also used in Isaiah 43:3 concerning the “redemption” of the “soul or nefes.” And
lastly, the “connection” to the Greek word, “lu-tron,” is so “unmistakable” that
even Gesenius must acknowledge its “correlation.” This is Strong’s #3083 and is
frequently translated as “ransom.”
d. The humans dwelling on the face of the Adamah are “all khatta-flesh” because
they have “abandoned mashalling” it as Yahweh instructed Cain to do. Through
the water of the “womb” of the earth and the “dust clouds” of heaven, they
combine to “rid” the earth of “all khatta-flesh” by “baptismal waters”
that “purify” the earth of its “polluting” qualities.
e. In the Tabernacle Structure rituals, the “kofer blood” is used from “holy
animals” to “purify the uncleanness” of the sons of Israel dwelling on the

6. ೦ ל
השׂע
do [#6213] to-you
יצע ת בֶתּ- רֶפג
ark-of [#8392] woods-of [#6086] gōfer [#1613]
הּתא
תּרפכו
and-you-käfar' [#3722] her
תא השׂעתּ -ה בֶתּה
םינּק
rooms [#7064] you-do [#6213] *** the-ark [#8392]
רפכּבּ ץוּ חֶמוּ
תי בֶּמ
inside [#1004] and-outside [#2351]
in-the-kōfer [#3724]
Strong’s #3724 רֶפכּ kō'·fer m. – … (2) pitch, so called from its
being overspread, or overlaid; compare the root No. 2, Gen. 6:14.
(Aram. and Arab. Id. … (4) λύτρον, price of expiation, or
redemption; Ex. 21:30; 30:12, ו שֶׁפנ רֶפכּ ‘the redemption-price
of
his life;’ Isa. 43:3,೦ רְֶפכּ ‘the price at which thou wast
redeemed.’

7. Adamah surrounding the “miqdash:” the Tabernacle Structure’s holy places. In
Noah’s situation, it is the “pitch or kofer” that “separates” the “brackish waters”
that are filled with the “khatta-flesh” of the “wicked” who are “ransomed” so the
“eight souls” in the Ark can be “saved.”
2. In Matthew 20:28, Jesus speaks about Himself in the “third person.” In the last
two hemistiches, He says that the “son of man” comes to give His “psukha, His
soul,” as a Strong’s #3083, “lutron, ransom,” for many. (Slide 4)
a. The word for “ransom” is Strong’s #3083 and is the “correlation” to the
Hebrew word “kofer” that we just discussed.
b. It is clear that the “story of baptism” is the story of the “redemption of
souls!!!”
3. The “memorialization” of Noah is at the very “center” of the chiasm that
describes the Flood. All the land creatures are “memorialized” at the same time
as Noah. (Slide 5)
a. The biblical report from Genesis 6:10 through Genesis 9:19 is a “chiastic” or
“mirror or reflection image” structure.
- The top half of the chiasm until Genesis 8:1 describes the time when the flood
waters increase and the dry land is covered.
- The bottom half of the chiasm until Genesis 9:19 represents the “end” of
Creation Age 1 and the “beginning” of New Creation Age 2.
- At the very center of the chiasm in Genesis 8:1 is the “very beginning” of New
Creation Age 2; this is the “equivalent” of the opening of Genesis 1:1:
Yahweh “remembers” Noah. The word, “remember,” is the “verb form” of the
“noun form, male,” and it can be translated as “memorialize.”
- Genesis 8:1 marks the “theme” for the whole chiastic structure. All the
descriptions of the Ark Structure are given in the feminine gender. We are meant
to see that Noah and his “seven” human companions, the birds, the animals, and
the creeping things “emerge” from a “female womb” that has been “designed”
by Elohim and “built” by Noah.
- They “emerge” as the “New Creation” preserved from the “previous” Creation
Age because of Noah’s “righteousness.” The Ark, the “womb of life,” is covered

8. Strong’s
#3083
ὥσπερ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
just-as [#5618] the son [#5207] the of-man [#444]
οὐκ ἦλθεν διακονηθῆναι
not he-came [#2064] to-be-ministered-to [#1247]
ἀλλὰ διακονῆσαι
but [#235] to-minister [#1247]
καὶ δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ
and to-give [#1325] the psükhā’ [#5590] of-him [#846]
λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν
ransom [#3083] for [#473] many [#4183]

9. תא םיה- חְֶנ ೦ א
רכּזיּו
Gen. 8.1a and-he-remembered Elohim*** Noah
לכּ -היֶּ חֶה
תֶאו
Gen. 8.1b and*** every-of the-living
-לֶ כּ-ה מֶה בֶּה
תֶאו
הֶב תֶּבּ ותּא
Gen 8.1c and*** every-of the-animals
רשׁא
Gen. 8.1d that they in-ark
G.Wenham: The Coherence of the Flood Narrative (1994)

10. “inside and out” with “kofer, the blood of the gofer wood,” to “protect” it from
the “sin-polluted” earth.
- Noah has a “new status.” He is the “antediluvian father” of the human species
and the “keeper” of the new animal creation. He has lived beyond the
“destruction” of the old age to “emerge” as the “father of the new age.”
b. The very “first act” of Elohim to “restore the earth” is to “cause a ruakh” to
“pass over” the waters. Put another way, it is the “water and the spirit” that
“cause” the baptismal event to be “completed.” (Slide 6)
c. In this case, the water is “released” from the “womb of the earth” and
“delivers” the corpses of the land creatures. And it is the “ruakh of the heavens”
that “begins” the “actualization of restoration” of the earth. “Water and spirit,”
we will see this once again when we consider the “baptism ofMoses.”
3. In 1 Corinthians 10:2, it makes clear that the waters “cleaved” in the Reed Sea
“caused a baptism.” (Slide 7)
a. The “verbal form” of “baptism,” Strong’s #907, is used in the first hemistich of
verse 2. As it is common in the Greek text, the text uses “prepositions” to create
phrases which, in turn, are used to “distinguish ideas.”
- In the first phrase, the preposition, “ise,” is used to “distinguish baptism into
Moses” from the two forms of water by which this baptism was accomplished;
“en” in the cloud and “en” in the sea.
- The “sea water destroys” the “plagued, khatta-flesh” nature that pursues the
sons of Israel and tries to return them to slavery. The Egyptian
military “stands in” for the “khatta-flesh” nature. This is the “mirror image” of
the earth “destroying the “khatta-flesh nature” in the days of Noah.
b. The verb in the first hemistich, Strong’s #907, “to baptize,” is in the “middle
voice.” In Greek, this middle voice can sometimes “stand in” for a “passive”
rather that an “active” voice.
- It is worth noting that the New Testament Greek linguist Bullinger says that the
Greek of this text uses the “middle for the passive.”
- This would make the text read the sons of Israel “baptized themselves” into
Moses.

11. תא םיה- חְֶנ ೦ א
רכּזיּו
and-he-memorializes [#2142] Elohim [#430] *** Noah [#5146]
לכּ -היֶּ חֶה
תֶאו
and*** all-of the-living [#2416]
-לֶ כּ-ה מֶה בֶּה
תֶאו
Strong’s and*** all-of the-animals [#929]
הֶב תֶּבּ ותּא #7307
רשׁא
that they in-ark [#8392]
םיה ೦ א
רבעיּו
and-he-caused-to-pass [#5674] Elohim [#430]
לע - ץֶראָה
חוּר
rüakh [#7307] upon the-earth [#776]
םיֶ מּה וּכּשׁיּו
and-they-shäkak [#7918] the-waters [#4325]

12. καὶ πάντες εἰς τὸν Μωϋσῆν ἐβαπτίσθησαν
and all [#3956] into [#1519] the Moses [#3475] were-baptized [#907]
ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ
in [#1722] the cloud [#3507]
καὶ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ
and in [#1722] the sea [#2281]
‘Heterosis; or Exchange Of Accidence: Exchange of one Voice, Mood,
Tense, Person, Number, Degree, or Gender, for another … 3. Middle for
Passive. 1 Cor. x. 2. – “And were all baptized into Moses”: lit., baptized
themselves.’ – Bullinger, Figures of Speech, p. 510, 512

13. 4. When the sons of Israel come out of Egypt, they “memorialize” the “first
three days” of Creation. Each of these days reported in Genesis 1 are “caused
by separation.” (Slide 8)
a. In the first day of Creation, “light” is “separated” from darkness. The sons of
Israel are brought out of the “darkness” of Egypt.
- With them they bring the materials that will be used to fashion the Tabernacle
Structure in the wilderness of Sinai
- They are organized as the “tsava of Yahweh,” and they are guided by a pillar of
cloud that leads them to the next day
b. In the second day of Creation, the “waters” are “separated” and the “heavens”
are “stretched between” the waters. Israel crosses the Reed Sea with Pharaoh’s
army in pursuit. Pharaoh’s army is “destroyed” before it can recapture the things
that have come out of them.
c. In the third day, the “dry ground” named, “earth,” appears. In “parallel,” the
children of Israel cross the Reed Sea, and the “dry ground” of the wilderness
appears on the other side. In the third day, there is no rain so nothing can grow.
It is in Genesis 2 that we come to understand that “no rain” has yet fallen.
5. In Exodus 14, we read the children of Israel approach the Reed Sea,
“eastward.” The Sea has “not yet” been “separated,” so they cannot pass
over, (Slide 9)
a. A strong “east ruakh” blows and the Reed Sea parts. They pass over the dry
land toward the “earth” on the other side. We shall see that the standard English
translation, “dry land,” is “not” literal and accurate!!
b. A “deliberate” use of the “feminine” form of the word that represents a
“wasting or destroying” thing is used. It is the same usage that occurs in the
Flood account in Genesis 7. The waters “come back together” again, and the
Egyptians are killed. They are the “khatta-flesh” that is “destroyed” like the “sons
of Elohim” and the “daughters of men” were in the Flood account.
c. In this case the order is “reversed.” In Genesis, the waters “come together” to
“kill” the “khatta-flesh,” and the “ruakh” marks the new creation. In Exodus,
the “ruakh” marks the “parting” of the waters, and the “return” of the waters
“kills” the “khatta-flesh.”

14. Break Forth
From Egypt
Reed Sea
Cleaved
Dry Ground
Appears

16. 6. In Genesis 7:22, the land creatures, including humans, died. It describes them
as whatever that the “neshama of the ruakh” of lives was. It is all these that
died. (Slide 10)
a. In the second hemistich, the “feminine form” of the Hebrew word, “kharav,”
is used. It is the word that describes a “wasting and destroying” power. However,
in the “feminine form” of “kharava,” there is nothing in the word that implies the
word, “land.” The idea of translating this word as “land” is an interpolation.
b. So when we consider the crossing of the Reed Sea, we once again see the
“wind or spirit” causing a “birth” of a new creation. Out of Egypt, the sons of
Israel “break forth” and when they cross the Reed Sea, the sea is turned to
“kharava” – Exodus 14:21.
- The Hebrew word used here could have been something else to represent “dry
ground.” But this ground is “deliberately chosen” to “contrast” what we see in
Genesis 7:22.
- The action is once again initiated by water and once again, “water” and Strong’s
#7307, “ruakh,” produce a “new creation” out of the “destruction” of the
“khatta-flesh.” In this case, the Egyptians serve as a “ransom” for the “souls” of
the sons of Israel.
- Their “baptism kills” the “khatta-flesh” and their “nefeses, souls,” are
“aggregated” into Moses. The “verticality” of the “baptism of Noah” is
“replaced” by the “horizontal” of the “baptismofMoses.”
7. In John 3:4, the Jewish ruler, Nicodemus, asks Jesus how a man can be
“born again.” Does he reenter his mother’s womb?? In verse 5, Jesus answers
Nicodemus. (Slide 11)
a. In “both” the Flood of Noah and the “crossing” of the Reed Sea, we see the
“action” of the “water and the spirit” from above and below that “causes” the
“khatta-flesh” to “die.”
b. It is this that is the “essence” of baptism: the “death of the khatta-flesh.” This
explains the “mystery” of Jesus’ explanation of “water and spirit” remark to
Nicodemus.

17. kol that neshämä-of [#53
תמשׁנ -ויפּאבּ םייּח חוּר
רשׁא לכּ
97] rüakh-of [#7307] lives [#2416] in-nostrils-of-him [#639]
וּתמ הברחבּ רשׁא
לכּמ
from-kol that in-the-khärävä [#2724] they-died [#4191]
Strong’s #2724 ה בֶרח khä·rä·vä (for הֶ בֶרּח ) that
which is
dry, dry land, Gen. 7:22; Ex. 14:21; 2 Ki. 2:8.
תֶא הוהי -םיֶּ ה
೦ לויּוו
and-he-drove-back [#3212] Yahweh [#3068] *** the-sea [#3220]
Strong’s
לכּ הזּע םיֶ דק - הֶליֶ לּה #7307
חוּ רֶבּ
in-wind-of [#7307] east [#6921] strong [#5794] all-of the-night [#3915]
תא -הב רֶחל םיֶּ ה
םֶשׂיּו
and-he-turned [#7760] *** the-sea [#3220] to-khärävä [#2724]
םיֶ מּה וּ עֶקבּיּו
and-they-were-divided [#1234] the-waters [#4325]

18. ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς
answered [#611] Jesus [#2424]
Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι
Strong’s
#1080
truly [#281] truly [#281] I-tell [#3004] to-you [#4671]
ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ
except [#1437][#3361] some [#5100] might-be-born [#1080]
ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος
out-of [#1537] water [#5204] and spirit [#4151]
οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν
not he-can [#1410] to-enter [#1525] ‘water and spirit’
εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ
into [#1519] kingdom [#932] the of-Theos [#2316]

19. c. But we have not yet fully explained how this is somehow a “birth from a
woman’s womb” and how it is related to baptism. Nicodemus asked this
question in verse 4, and we will now turn our attention to this question.
8. We have explained the “roots” of Jesus’ statement in John 3 about “being born
of water and the spirit.”
a. The water in the Flood of Noah comes from the heavens and the earth in the
form of floodgates of heaven opening and the earth opening up the springs of the
great deep.
b. The “spirit” appears in Genesis 8:1 to “mark” the “beginning” of the
“recreation” of the earth by once again “separating” the waters that allow the
land creatures to once again “live” on the dry ground.
c. In the “water” of the Reed Sea story, the “spirit of the heavens marks” the
“beginning” of the “parting “of the waters. The “kharava” is a “pathway” for
escape for the people of Moses but is an “entry to death” for the Egyptian army.
The waters “close up” on the Egyptians who are the “khatta-flesh” who “must
die” in order that the people of Moses are saved. The “return” of the Reed Sea’s
water causes the Egyptians death.
d. But the story of “water and spirit” is not yet finished. Both Jesus and
Nicodemus talk about a “birth” which we will now discuss.
9 . In Job 10:18-19, Job says he wishes he had never been born. In his explanation,
he uses two “parallel” words that represent a “womb” and “fluids” that flow
from a womb (Slide 12)
a. The first two “parallel” words can be translated as “womb” in English. The first
is Strong’s #7358. This word has a “mem” prefix which means “from,” so the use
of the word in the first hemistich literally means, “from womb.” The second word
is Strong’s #990 which occurs in the last hemistich. It is sometimes translated as
“womb.” But its “literal” meaning is “innermost parts,” and it can be applied to
both male and females.
b. The second “paired” set of words refers to the “flow” froma womb or
innermost parts. The first use occurs in the first hemistich, and it is Strong’s
#3318. This is a frequently occurring word in the Hebrew text that means to
“break forth.” It is paired with Strong’s #2896 in the last hemistich, and it means

20. ינֶ תאצה םח רֶמ
הֶמּלו
and-why from-womb [#7358] you-cause-me-to-break-forth [#3318]
א-ינ אֶרת ೦ ןיעו
עוגא
I-expire [#1478] and-eye [#5869] not she-sees-me [#7200]
א-היהא יתייה ೦
רֶשׁאכּ
like-that not I-came-to-be I-am
Strong’s
#7358
Strong’s
#990
//
לֶ בוּא רֶבקּל ן טֶבּמ
from-belly [#990] to-the-grave [#6913] I-was-caused-to-flow [#2986]
Strong’s
#3318
Strong’s
#2986
//

21. “to flow.” It can be seen that the last hemistich could refer to the male equivalent
of seminal fluid flowing from its source into the Adamah.
c. The “parallel” use of Strong’s #990 and Strong’s #7358 can be seen in Psalms
22:10-11. The two verses have “two” uses of Strong’s #990. (Slide 13) Both words
can be translated as “womb” because “breaking forth” from a “womb” seems to
fit the nature of the hemistiches of this verse.
- On the other hand, in the first hemistich of verse 11, Strong’s #7358, “womb,”
is used. It is clearly “womb” that is intended as an “equivalent” English
translation.
- Hemistiches four and five show the “parallel” use of both Strong’s #990 and
#7358 as a “mother’s womb.”
10. The Book of Job gives the “parallel” account of the “birth” of a child froma
mother’s womb and the “waters” that occupy the lower places of the earth,
including the sea. In Job 3:10-11, Job speaks, and in Job 38:8, Yahweh
speaks. (Slide 14)
a. Both accounts use the “same,” Strong’s #1817 word for “door” to refer to the
“door of a belly” and the “door of the sea.” The “belly of a man” produces the
seminal fluid that provides a “fluidic seed,” and the “belly of a woman” produces
the “fluidic egg” that “unites” their two “nefes.” Both use the word Strong’s
#7358, “womb.” Both also describe the “fluidic discharge” as Strong’s #3318, “to
break forth.”
b. It is clear that the “discharge of a woman,” in particular, is “parallel” to the
“discharge of fluids” for the “depths” of the earth.
c. This “distinguishes” the “formation” of Adam. Adam’s flesh is “formed” from
the “dust” of the Adamah and the “waters” of the clouds of the heavens. This is
“fresh water” suitable for drinking.
d. On the other hand, the womb of a women and the womb of the earth release
fluids from the depths of the earth that are brackish and not suitable for
drinking.
11. Let us compare Job 38:8 and a verse from a Psalms of David: Psalms
139:13. (Slide 15)

22. - הֶתּא
יֶ כּ
ki [#3588] you
Strong’s
#7358
Strong’s
#990
//
ןט בֶּ
מ
יח
you-break-forth-me [#1518] from-womb [#990ג ]
יֶ מֶּ
א
לע -ידשׁ
causing-me-to-hope [#982] upon breasts-of [#7699] mo מth בe טr-o יֶf ח-mיe [#517]
םחרמ יתּכלשׁה
೦ ילע
upon-you I-was-cast [#7993] from-womb [#7358]
יֶ מֶּ
א
ןט בֶּ
from-womb-of [#990] mother-of-me #517 ] מ ]
ה תֶּא ילֶ א
El-of-me [#410] you

23. Strong’s
רגס א ೦
יכּ
ki [#3588] not he-shut [#5462]
Strong’s
#1817
ינטב
יתלדּ
doors-of [#1817] belly-of-me [#990]
יני עֶמ לֶ מע רתּסיּו
and-he-causes-to-hide [#5641] trouble [#5999] from-eyes-of-me [#5869]
Strong’s
תוּמאָ םחרמ א #7358 ೦
הֶמּל
why not from-womb [#7358] I-died [#4191]
עוגאו יֶ תאצי
ןט בֶּמ
from-belly [#990] I-broke-forth [#3318] and-I-expired [#1478]
םי םיֶ תלדבּ
೦ סְֶיּו
אצי םחרמ
and-he-causes-to-säkak [#5526] doors [#1817] sea [#3220]
וחיגבּ
#3318
in-to-break-him-forth [#1518] from-womb [#7358] he-breaks-forth [#3318]

24. Strong’s
#5526
םי םיֶ תלדבּ
and-he-causes-to-säkak [#5526] doors೦[#1 1ְֶסיּ8ו 7] sea [#3220]
אצי םחרמ וחיגבּ
in-to-break-him-forth [#1518] from-womb [#7358] he-breaks-forth [#3318]
- הֶתּא
יֶ כּ
ki [#3588] you
יֶ תילכ תְֶינק
you-qänäed [#7069] kidneys-of-me [#3629]
יֶ מֶּ
א
ןטבבּ
you-säkaked-me [#5526] in-womb-of [#990] mother תּ-o סf-m כּe #517 י] נ ]

25. a. The “analogy” of the womb of the earth “holding” the waters of the deep and
“breaking forth” like a “birth” is once again seen in Psalms 139.
b. The “same” verb for “to cover” is used in both verses. It is Strong’s #5526,
“saw’kak,” which means “to cover.” Yahweh “contains” the “doors of the sea” in a
“cover.” When they “break forth,” they break forth as from a womb. David
says the same of his mother’s innermost parts, here translated as Strong’s #990.
c. Psalms interpreters have “known” for quite some time that in Psalms 139:13
and 15, David “parallels” his “formation” in his mother’s womb to being “woven”
into the midst of the earth. (Slide 16)
- We see once again a repetition of the idea that the body and the earth
are “parallel” models. The “making” of the human body is “parallelized” with the
“making of the earth.” Both are used to “memorialize” the “making of the
cosmos” depicted in Genesis 1 and 2.
12. In Genesis 1:2, we read about the “formless and void” state of the earth.
“Brackish waters” are everywhere, and “darkness” is upon the “face of the
deep.” Elohim’s “ruakh” hover upon the face of the waters. (Slide 17)
a. Strong’s #8415, “deep,” is used to describe the “parallel” position of Elohim’s
“ruakh.” The “position” of the “raukh” of Elohim upon the face of the deep and
darkness is a “deliberate contrast” that must be important.
b. Once again, we see from our prior discussion and Jesus’ statement to
Nicodemus in John 3, the “parallel and complimentary function” of “water
and spirit” in a “new creation.”
c. “Waters of the deep” are “not the same” as “waters of the heavens” that rain
down “fresh water.” They are “brackish,” but they too serve a “function” in the
“destiny” of humans who “serve” Yahweh.
13. Genesis 7:11 and Psalms 78:15 describe two “apparently” different events,
but we shall see that their description is “more similar” than it might seem. (Slide
18)
a. In Genesis 7, the physics of the water that “floods” the earth in the days of
Noah is described in the second half of verse 11. The Flood was a “reversal” of
Elohim’s Creation report in Genesis 1. The waters return to their “primordial”
positions by “removing” the restraints that hold them.

26. not he-was-h
- הֶתּא
יֶ כּ
ki [#3588] you
Womb // Earth
יֶ תילכ תְֶינק
you-qänäed [#7069] kidneys-of-me [#3629]
יֶ מֶּ
א
ןטבבּ
you-säkaked-me [#5526] in-womb-of [#990] mother תּ-o סf-m כּe #517 י] נ ]
ךּ מֶּ
מ
-יֶ מצע דחכנ
idden [#3582] frame-of-me #6 ] א೦108] from-you
- רֶ תֶסּב יתישּׂע
רֶשׁא
when I-was-done [#6213] in-the-secret-place [#5643]
ץראָ תויּתּחתבּ
יתּמקּר
I-was-woven-together [#7551] in-midst-of [#8482] earth [#776]

27. וּהבו וּהת התיה
ץראָהו
and-the-earth [#776] she-was [#1961] formless [#8414] and-empty [#922]
םו הֶ
ת
לע -ינפּ
and-darkness [#2822] upon face-of [#6440] the೦-de חוe שׁp [#8415]
Strong’s
םיה #8415 ೦ א
חוּרו
and-rüakh-of [#7307] Elohim [#430]
Strong’s
#7307
לע -םיֶ מּה ינפּ
תפ חֶ רֶמ
hovering [#7363] upon face-of [#6440] the-waters [#5325]

28. Strong’s
#8248
לֶ כּ -הבּר םוהתּ תניעמ
they-cleaved-themselves [#1234] all-of springs-of [#4 ע[ 9 ק 9 ב5ֶנ de וּep [#8415] great [#7227]
וּחתּפנ םימשּׁה
תבּראו
and-floodgates-of [#699] the-heavens [#8064] they-were-opened [#6605]
Strong’s
#8414 &
#7227 ‘like’
רֶבּד מֶּבּ םירצ
he-cleaves [#1234] rocks [#6697] ביin-ֶ קּ th עe-desert [#4057]
ה בֶּ
ר
תומ הֶתכּ
and-he-causes-to-water [#8248] like-deeps [#84 שׁ5יּ 1ו ] g קreat [#7227]

29. b. The “waters in the heavens” are released, and they “pour down.” The “waters
of the deep” rise upward as “springs that are cleaved.” But the language
associated with Strong’s #8415 is “different” than in Genesis 1:2. It is now called,
“great deep.” The water that Elohim “force downward” pushes it to “greater
depths” than the “face of the deep” that was in Genesis 1.
c. Psalms 78:15 recalls the incident at the waters ofMeribah. This narrative is
provided in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20. As pointed out by Jacob Milgrom,
Exodus 17 and Numbers 20 are in “symmetric” positions in the “grand chiasm” in
the Pentateuch.
- At Meribah,Moses “strikes” a rock, and the rock “cleaves.” Water pours from
the rock like a river. This water is potable and suitable for drinking by humans
and their livestock. It should be pointed out that there are “important
differences” between these two accounts.
- Strong’s #8248 means “to cleave.” The Genesis 7 account uses the “Niphal”
form of the verb. This is a “reflexive” form that makes the “cleaving” to itself. In
other words, the “action” is performed by the springs of the great deep. On the
other hand, in Psalms 78, the rock is “cleaved” to provide “fresh water” for
drinking.
- The second important contrast is in the phrase, “the great deep.” In the
Genesis account, the springs “release brackish water” that “rises and kills”
humans and land animals. In the Psalms account, The Hebrew consonant prefix,
“kaf,” is used to represent the word, “like.” The “watering of humans” from the
“cleaved” rock is “like” the “watering of the earth” at her great depths.
- The Psalms 78 account tells us that the water fromMeribah “memorializes” the
Creation report of the “third day,” but in a way that is “beneficial” to land animals
and humans.
14. The Greek text “relates” the waters ofMeribah to Christ in 1 Corinthians
10:4. Note the “absence” of the “forename,” Jesus, in the last hemistich and the
“retention” of the “surname,” Christ. (Slide 19)
a. The Greek performs the “same functions” that we see in the Hebrew text. Here
we see earth providing water for the “inside” of the human. This is “fresh
water,” potable water, and “not” brackish water.

30. καὶ πάντες τὸ αὐτὸ πνευματικὸν
and all [#3956] the same [#846] spiritual [#4152]
ἔπιον πόμα
drank [#4095] drink [#4188]
ἔπινον γὰρ ἐκ πνευματικῆς ἀκολουθούσης πέτρας
they-drank [#4095] for out-of [#1537] a-spiritual [#4152] following [#190]
rock [#4073]
ἡ πέτρα δὲ ἦν ὁ Χριστός
the rock [#4073] and was [#2258] the Christ [#5547]

31. b. Thus Jesus provides waters “like” the waters from the “deep,” but they are
“suitable” for “drinking and sustaining” human and animal life.
c. It is important to “contrast” this with verse 2. They are “not” the waters of
baptism and do “not provide” this function. Rather, they teach us new and
unique aspects of the “nature “of the Christ.
15. In Leviticus 12:2, a woman that “causes to bear seed” and “bears a male
child” is said to be unclean for seven days. The last hemistich provides the
“reason” why she is “unclean.” (Slide 20)
a. This period, it says, is “like” the days of the “nidda” to her sickness. The “fluidic
discharge” is “like” the “fluidic discharge” when a woman has her normal
menstrual discharge. English translations frequently translate Strong’s #5079 as
“menstruation or separation.” It is important to note that this water comes from
“inside” of the woman.
b. This water is “equivalent” to the “brackish water” of the deep, “the womb of
the earth.” This brackish water “delivers” the corpses of the “khatta-flesh” but
also “rums” a “terumah” offering of the Ark filled with the “new creation”
humans and land animals in the Flood.
c. We see the “nidda water” has a “dual” nature that “likens” it to the “baptism”
of the New Testament.
16. Numbers 18:9 describes the last parts of the ritual that produces the “waters
of nidda.” The ashes of a red cow are “burned together” with hyssop and scarlet
yarn by the priest to produce ash. The ashes are placed in a vessel for the
purpose of “purification” of the outside of the “edah” of the camp. (Slide 21)
17. The second half of Numbers 18:9 speaks of the future purposes of the ashes
of the red cow. When it is “mixed with water” it becomes “waters of nidda.”
(Slide 22)
a. It is for the “edah” of the sons of Israel to serve as a “kind” of “khattat”
offering, and we know this offering is used to purify the holy spaces or
“miqdash.”
b. But the “waters of nidda” are “instead used” for “unclean” humans in the
camp who are in an “unclean” state. The “waters of nidda purify” the unclean. It

32. spea
-רמאל לארשׂי ינבּ
לא ר בֶּדּ
k [#1696] to sons-of [#1121] Israel [#3478] to-say [#559]
עירזת יכּ השּׁא
woman [#802] ki [#3588] she-causes-to-bear-seed [#2232]
ר כֶז
ה דֶליו
and-she-bore [#3205]male [#2145]
םימי תעבשׁ
האָמטו
and-she-unclean [#2930] seven-of [#7651] days [#3117]
אָמטתּ הֶּתודּ תדּנ ימיכּ
like-days-of [#3117] niddä-of [#5079] to-sickness-of-her [#1738] she-unclean [#2930]
Strong’s #5079 הֶדּנ nid·dä' f. prop. abomination (see the root No. 4),
uncleanness, impurity, Zec. 13:1; יֶ מ- הֶדּנּה Num. 19:9, 13, 20, 21, water
of impurity, i.e. water by which the unclean were purged, cleansing water.
Specially – (1) filth, menstrual uncleanness of women, Levit. 12:2; 15:19, 20; ....

33. רוהט שׁיא
ףסאָו
and-he-gathered [#622] man [#376] clean [#2889]
הרפּה ר פֶא
תֶא
*** ash-of [#665] the-heifer [#6510]
הנחמּל ץוּחמ
חינּהו
and-he-laid-up [#3240] outside [#2351] of-the-camp [#4264]
רו הֶט
םו קֶמבּ
in-place [#4725] clean [#2889]

34. Strong’s
#5079
ינבּ תדעל -לא רֶשׂי
התיהו
and-she-shall-be to-edah-of [#5712] sons-of [#1120] Israel [#3478]
הֶדּנ ימל
תֶרמ שֶׁמל
Strongto’s-mishmeh'reth [#4931] to-waters-of [#4325] niddä [#5079]
אוה
#2403
khättä חt [ 3 ת 40א #2טּ ] she
“water of lustration Hebrew mei niddah, derived from privative Piel, ‘remove
impurity’ (e.g., niddah, ‘menstural impurity,’ in Lev. 18:19) and analogous to hitte’,
‘remove sin’ (het’). Thus the prophet declares: ‘In that day a fountain shall he open
to the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for purging (le-hatta’t) and
for cleansing (le-niddah)’ (Zech. 13:1).” – Milgrom, Numbers, 1989, p. 160

35. becomes a “kind of atonement” for “uncleanness” outside the “holy places” and
in the camp.
c. Jacob Milgrom describes the ashes of the red cow in water as “water of
lustration.” Its “function,” he says, is to “remove impurity.” It is “analogous”
to “hitte,” to “remove sin.”
d. The “destructive power” of the water from the womb of a mother and the
earth on “khatta-flesh” is now “transformed” into a method for purifying the
“khatta-flesh,” because it as a “khattat:” a “ritual detergent” for “unclean
humans.”
18. Numbers 31:23 adds to the story of the “waters of nidda.” Moses leads the
armies of Yahweh in a campaign against the Midianites. (Slide 23)
a. The metals they collect are to “pass through” the fire to “purify” them for use
by Yahweh.
b. But what “cannot” pass through the fire is “cleansed” with the “waters
of nidda.” This “striking and important” addition to the use of the “waters of
nidda” is that things from “Gentiles” are added to the camp by “purifying” them
in the “waters of nidda.” The waters provide a “definitive” way that Gentiles can
be “added” to Yahweh’s people. Some women, children, and animals were added
to the camp.
c. In this development, we see the beginnings of how Gentiles would
become “intimately associated” with Yahweh and His “determined destiny” for
Gentiles. It “begins” with the “waters of nidda.”

36. -ר בֶדּ
לֶ כּ
Strong’s all-of thing [#1697]
- שֶׁאב אבי
#5079
רֶשׁא
that he-enters [#935] in-the-fire [#784]
ר הֶטו שֶׁאב וּריבעתּ
you-cause-to-pass-over [#5674] in-the-fire [#784] and-he-tahered [#2891]
אֶטּחתי הדּנ יֶ מבּ
೦ אְ
also in-waters-of [#4325] niddä [#5079] he-khättäs-himself [#2398]
א- שֶׁאבּ אבי ೦
רשׁא לכו
and-kol that not he-enters [#935] in-the-fire [#784]
םימּב וּריבעתּ
you-cause-to-pass-over [#5674] in-the-waters [#4325]