Sea of Glass and Fire

The Book of Revelation overflows with strange scenes. In Chapter 15 verse 2, the narrator John sees a crowd of people standing on the shore of the sea that looks like ‘glass mixed with fire’. If we didn’t know better this might appear to us as a glorious sunset on the water.

But in Revelation, as in common Old Testament imagery, the sea is the domain of evil and everything hostile against God. The Beast who assaults God’s people rises from the sea. But this crowd stands triumphant beside the sea, not frightened in the least. The fire glistening on the water is a sign that the evil has been judged.

Speak to the Rock

Twice In the extended story of the Exodus, God miraculously provided desperately-needed water from a rock - with Moses using his staff as a cudgel.

In the second of these stories, near the end of the 40-year migration, we read,

The LORD said to Moses, "Take the staff, and gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."

Testing and Resting

Deserts are relentless – and humans are not well-adapted to desert demands.

As the Israeli tribes travelled deeper into the wilderness of Sinai toward their promised home, their principal need was water. Once, when the need was especially acute, God told Moses to smack a nearby rock. To everyone’s astonishment, water gushed out. God knows the map-line of every underground

aquifer and how to provide for his people. That happened more than once as God proved his faithfulness to his people.  Israel immortalized God's power in poetry and song:

He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
He brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers.
Psalm 78:15-16

But song alone can’t change character and Israel never seemed to pass the trust-test, complaining constantly, testing God’s patience, quarreling with God. Moses even named a couple of memorable landmarks Massah (i.e. Testing) and Meribah (i.e. Quarreling) to mark these low-points in their spiritual odyssey.

Wells of Joy - Part One

After a seven-year search, the Jewish settlers at the fledgling Kibbutz Na’an finally found water. Their joy was ecstatic; their future secured.




A dancer in the kibbutz named Else Dublin choreographed a simple dance to celebrate the event. And today, 72 years later, it is one of the most popular Israeli folk dances.

Mayim, Mayim! (Water, Water!) is a circle dance, so it is easy to imagine dancing around a well. The words of the song come directly from Isaiah 12.

‘Water, water, water.
With joy you shall draw water from the wells of salvation!’

Even though Kibbutz Na’an is proudly unreligious, the words of Isaiah seemed the perfect expression of their joy.