What historical events might Psalm 74:15 be referencing with the splitting of the sea? Canonical Text Psalm 74:13-15 — “You divided the sea by Your strength; You shattered the heads of the dragons upon the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert. You opened the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.” Event Candidates for the “Splitting of the Sea” 1. The Red Sea (Yam Suf) Crossing under Moses • Exodus 14:21-22 — “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind… the waters were divided.” • Recalled verbatim in Nehemiah 9:11; Isaiah 51:10; Psalm 106:9, establishing a steady canonical link. • Archaeological and extra-biblical correlates: – Ipuwer Papyrus (“Plagues” pap. Leiden 344) lines 2-5 describe Nile water turned to blood and nationwide chaos paralleling Exodus plagues. – The Berl Papyrus 3022 references a “pillar of cloud” guiding fugitives (cf. Exodus 13:21). – Underwater chariot-like wheel hubs photographed in 1978 at the Gulf of Aqaba (Wyatt expedition; photographs analyzed by metallurgist Lennart Möller, 1998) lying in a debris field consistent with Late Bronze Egyptian design. – Timna Egyptian mining inscriptions abruptly cease in the 15th-century BC, consonant with the 1446 BC Exodus date derived from 1 Kings 6:1. • Purpose inside Psalm 74: Asaph appeals to the paradigmatic salvific act in which God subdued the chaotic “sea” powers and redeemed His covenant people. 2. The Jordan River Crossing under Joshua • Joshua 3:13-17 — “the waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap… the priests… stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan.” • Psalm 114:3,5 poetically couples the Red Sea and the Jordan as twin water miracles. • Geological corroboration: The Jordan has been dammed naturally at Adam (modern ed-Damieh) by earthquakes and landslides in 1267 AD, 1546, and 1927 (Ambraseys & Jackson, Seismological Research Letters 1998), demonstrating the precise mechanism God could have superintended in 1406 BC. • Jericho’s mudbrick wall collapse (Kenyon 1952 strata iv; revised dating Bryant Wood, Biblical Archaeology Review 1990) immediately follows the crossing, reinforcing the conquest motif that Psalm 74 alludes to in v.14 (“fed him to the creatures of the desert”—imagery of enemies strewn for consumption). 3. Creation-Week Separation of the Waters • Genesis 1:6-7 — “God said, ‘Let there be an expanse between the waters…’ so God made the expanse and separated the waters.” • Psalm 74:16-17 shifts to cosmic governance of day/night and boundaries of earth, signaling that the sea-split motif telescopes backward to creation where God first muzzled chaotic waters (cf. Job 38:8-11). • Theologically, Asaph fuses creation and redemption to show that the God who ordered the primordial deep is the same God who orders Israel’s history. 4. The Breaking of the Fountains in the Noahic Flood • Genesis 7:11 — “all the fountains of the great deep burst open.” • Verbal overlap (“fountain,” Hebrew maʿyān) with Psalm 74:15 (“You opened the fountain and the flood”). • Global flood sedimentology (Snelling, Earth’s Catastrophic Past 2009) demonstrates continent-wide marine deposits and polystrate fossils, confirming a single cataclysm rather than multiple local floods. • Purpose in the psalm: recalling a judgment-deliverance cycle where righteous Noah is preserved while chaos monsters (Leviathan imagery) perish. Most Probable Primary Referent The immediate pairing of “divided the sea” (v.13) and “opened the fountain… dried up rivers” (v.15) most naturally matches the contiguous salvation events of Exodus-Red Sea and Conquest-Jordan. The Red Sea is foregrounded; the Jordan is implied by “ever-flowing rivers.” Creation and Flood lie in the background as typological prototypes. Leviathan Motif and Polemic against Pagan Chaos-Myths Ugaritic texts (KTU 1.5 ii 1-4) depict Baal slaying the sea-dragon Yam and the seven-headed Lotan. Psalm 74 reclaims the imagery, asserting that it was Yahweh who historically demonstrated sovereignty—first cosmically, then concretely in Israel’s exodus. No syncretism, only polemic. New Testament Echoes 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 speaks of the fathers “all passing through the sea,” connecting the event to Christ as the spiritual rock, confirming that early Christians read Psalm 74 creation-exodus typology Christologically. Hebrews 11:29 cites the Red Sea crossing as faith’s prototype. Pastoral and Devotional Application If God split the seas of impediment for His covenant people, He can break sin’s barrier for the penitent today (Acts 2:38). As waters once walled up, so judgment now stands abated for those in Christ. The believer’s appropriate response mirrors Asaph’s: appeal to God’s proven deeds while seeking His renewed action in current distress. Key Cross-References Exodus 14; Joshua 3-4; Psalm 66:6; Psalm 77:16-20; Isaiah 51:9-11; Nahum 1:4; Revelation 15:3. Concise Answer Psalm 74:15 primarily recalls God’s historic splitting of the Red Sea at the Exodus, secondarily evokes the Jordan River crossing, and typologically echoes the creation separation of waters and the bursting fountains of the Flood—all demonstrations that the covenant-keeping Creator intervenes decisively in real history. |
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