Throughout the assigned Jewish scriptural texts of Genesis and Exodus, the
scope of water’s symbolism encompasses the powers of destruction, deliverance, and
promise. Its character is dually displayed as it manifests itself to be both a life taker and
a life giver, a life force sustainer and a life force destroyer. As a life taker, water
becomes the destructive force that obliterates the wicked people of Noah’s day, and
punishes the people and land of Egypt during Pharaoh’s unyielding reign. In contrast, as
a symbol of salvation, water provides deliverance to Moses and the Israelites. Equally
important, scenes of water surround events involving covenants, such as with Noah,
Hagar, and Abraham. Water becomes the tool by which God dispenses his judgment,
whether it be a blessing or a curse.
To begin with, water is portrayed as a destroyer when God wields it as an
instrument of devastation to deliverer his condemning judgment throughout Genesis.
Depicting water as a life taker, God sends a flood to destroy the unrighteous generation
of mankind (Genesis 7:1). Only Noah and his family escape the waters of the flood
(Genesis 7:7). Not only did the flood waters obliterate nearly all humankind, but also
virtually all forms of animal life excluding the mated animal companions sheltered within
the refuge of the ark (Genesis 7:21-23). Employed as a tool to dispense God’s
judgment, water becomes the medium by which God transforms from a creator of life to
an eliminator of life.
Once again, when God delivers punishment to a disobedient people, water is
found to play a significant role. As God releases plagues upon Egypt because of
Pharaoh’s refusal to let God’s people go, the plagues source of origin...
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... promised to make a great nation of, can satiate their thirst (Exodus
21:18-19). To continue Abraham’s promised lineage through his son Isaac, God reveals
Isaac’s intended to Abraham’s servant at the well of Nahor (Exodus 24:10-20).
Essential to the carrying out of numerous promises, the presence or lack of water
is required to seal the pledges made by God.
In conclusion, the role of water plays an amazingly complex and vital role in the
lives of the Israelite people within the first two books of the Old Testament. Serving a
two fold purpose, God manipulates water to terminate life or to prolong it, to avert
disaster or to inflict it. Representing devastation, salvation, and assurance, God
brandishes water’s powers to deliver glorious rewards or terrible penalties amongst his
creation .
Works Cited
Genesis
Exodus
Water is an element that cannot be controlled, with time it will wear away at rock and weaken any metal. Water is also untamable and vital to the survival of every living being on earth. While it foreshadows many misfortunate events and links the events of The Joy Luck Club, it is still untamable and presents itself in
Noah’s Ark is the story of a man who builds a boat for animals and his family to escape a fatal flood. The flood was caused by God because he was dismayed by the evilness of humans. In the end, Noah, most of the animals and his family survived and God swore that he would never destroy humankind again. The Flood of Gilgamesh is a story in which the gods are infuriated by the obnoxious behavior of humans, so Utnapishtim builds a boat to save his family and animals from a destructive flood. They survived and the Gods gave Utnapishtim immortality thanking him for his actions and apologized for destroying humankind.
Back when I was little girl, I always fascinated over water. I remember that I loved to be able to go down to Lake Chatuge, which is directly behind my house, and sit there, thinking about how wonderful my God is to make such a beautiful thing that we do not appreciate like we should. According to Oxford Dictionary, water is “a colorless, transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid that forms the seas, lakes, rivers, and rain and is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.” Ron Rash used symbolism, which is “something that represents something else” (Mays 205), in his book One Foot in Eden drastically in many different aspects about water. The symbolism of water in One Foot in Eden has many various meanings that are vividly expressed within
Water is one of the most critical elements in determining any form of life. All living beings depend on water and without it, all forms of life come to a dead stop. Since the beginning of human civilization, water has been a driving force in how people dictate the affairs in their lives. People move near it, when there is too little of it, people flee from it, when there is too much of it, and people fight over it, when there is nothing of it. Our lives depend on water. Indeed, Vitruvius states in his De Architectura, “Water is indispensable for life, for pleasure, and for daily use.” In the Roman Empire, Roman citizens prided themselves as having the capacity to virtual supply of unlimited water. The Romans achieved this supply by constructing the aqueduct. As a symbol
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The Biological Importance of Water as a Solvent and as a Medium for Living Organisms
he provides water - "the voice of a kindly god". Water is seen to be a
referencing is life. He's telling us that life is water. It's so obvious, but so hidden because we're not
...thing but the continual torrent of concepts across the page. The turgid stream of blood coursing through my veins made of water is magic. The birth canal for original life, the place where land meets water is magic. The potential for life wherever there is water is magic. The feeling of being connected to everything through water is magic. The best memories in life can surface because water is magic. This only ripples the surface for some of the ways water is magic. My ten minutes of water watching brings to me a lifetimes reverie, and it represents one sentence of one page of my thirty-two year tome. The ultimate magic of water is that it is an billion year book, it tells an endless story, and provokes an endless bubbling of insight.
First, I would like to examine a story almost everyone is familiar with. This is the story of the Great Flood. When I think of this story, the first response I have is the thought of “divine destruction”, or destruction caused by God. As we know, the amount of destruction in the Great Flood was overwhelming. The entire earth was flooded, killing everyone except Noah, his family, and a male and female of every animal. Is this story, God is the character doing the “killing”. Of course, it is portrayed as a good deed, which is should be. In the long run, it was good for the world. He was get...
The Powerful Symbol of Water in Beloved Water. It expresses its’ power in the form of hurricanes and flash floods. It displays its gentleness, washing dirt off a child's scabbed knee. Water has been used to quench the thirst of many longing throats; and it has been the cause of death to those who unfavorably crossed its path. It possesses the power of total destruction, yet it holds the bases of all life. Generally, is a natural purifier, washing the dirt from our bodies. Water is a symbol of transition from dirty to clean. In Beloved, Morrison uses water to introduce a transition between stages in a character's life. Water separates one stage of a character's life from another. Paul D.'s escape from Alfred, Georgia was directly helped and represented by the rain that had fallen in the past weeks. Paul D. was sent to Alfred, George because he tried to kill Brandywine, his master after the schoolteacher. In Alfred, he worked on a chain gang with forty-five other captured slaves. They worked all day long with "the best hand-forged chain in Georgia" threading them together. They A man's breaking point was challenged everyday. It was hell for Paul D. Then it rained. Water gave Paul D. his freedom. The rain raised the water level in the in-ground cell so they could dive, "down through the mud under the bars, blind groping," in search of the other side (p. 110). One by one each of the forty-six men dug through for the ground. They dug for breath, they dug for each other, and they three separate times to make the reader aware that water is the main cause of the transition in Paul D.'s life (p.109-10). Paul D.'s is now a free black man. A free black man traveling to 124. Water represents Sethe's transition from slavery to freedom.
The myths which prove the contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
Water is the most important substance in our evolution and our daily lives. Without water,
Water is the most vital part of life. Water is needed from humans, to plants and other organisms, and to do basically everything. Water allows our bodily functions to work and to remove waste from our bodies. Plants need water to grow, and humans need plants to gr...
Water is an essential nutrient that our body requires every day. Without water human life cannot be sustained. Water deprivation kills faster than lack of any other nutrient. People do not think of water as a nutrient and don’t realize the important role of water in the body functions.