Why Did Jesus Walk on Water?"Water-Walk: The Motion Picture"

One of the things I love to do when I read the Bible is to sort of play the events out on the movie screen of my mind and to imagine how they looked as if I was actually there… feeling the moment, smelling the smells, hearing the sounds, seeing the events as a participant, rather than one who is reading about them many generations after the fact.

When I read about Jesus walking on water in the middle of the night toward a group of terrified disciples, I want to know what they saw from a first person perspective.  Believe me, it creates some dramatic footage for my mental movie.  However, it raises some logistical questions as well.  We know from the Gospels1 that the "contrary wind" had been blowing all night.  This wind out of the east creates real problems on the Sea of Galilee.  I know, because I've been out on that same sea in a boat when the winds suddenly shifted and the waves became a rollicking roller-coaster.  It's been times like that when I've wondered how Jesus would have looked on the surface of those waves.  Would He be bouncing up and down with the enormous swells?  Would the waves have created a smooth path only around His footsteps?  Would He have walked up one wave and down another?  Would the foam and spray have soaked Him?

No, I'm not being silly.  Many people with whom I have spoken have confessed to me that they wondered the same thing.  It has created challenges for artists who depict Jesus walking on water.  Each of the paintings and sketches show either a wimpy version of a storm so that walking would not have been difficult for even a toddler - if said toddler had the ability to walk on water, or else the storm rages elsewhere in the painting, just not at the feet of Jesus.  Artists typically recreate their own opinions about how it looked

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but they make it so that Jesus was removed from any real storminess.

Another thing that always bothered me when I read this story is that aside from calming down his frightened disciples, what was the purpose of this miracle?  What did it teach other than to say to his terrified students that He had supernatural mastery over the natural realm?  Couldn't He have demonstrated it another way?  Indeed, we know that his disciples clearly got the message from the time when He was sleeping in the boat and they thought that they were going to drown, only to have Him wake up and rebuke the wind and the waves.  At that time, they said, "Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?"2  Message loud and clear.

Again, why walk on top of the water?  Why did Peter ask the unthinkable… to get out of the boat into a stormy sea?  Why did Jesus let him take that "leap of faith"?  Why did he sink?  Why does John's gospel3 tell us that once Jesus and Peter got into the boat, that they were immediately, supernaturally at their destination?  Wouldn't it have been a greater miracle if Jesus had just zapped them to their destination as soon as the storm hit?  He could have been waiting for them on the opposite shore with a smile on his face as if to say, "I'll bet you're wondering how I got here before you did."

If we are going to answer any or all of the above questions, we need to know some things… literally, we need to know everything that the disciples knew in their day - which we do not know in ours.  Indeed one of the purposes of JewishEyes.org is to impart to the modern student (removed from the historical events of the Bible) as much as possible about the time, culture, customs and traditions, the belief systems and practices of the ancient people who were alive when the events were unfolding.

Believe it or not, three languages and thousands of years removed from the events described in the Bible robs a person of the ability to truly understand what was going on at that time.  Our task, joyfully accepted, is to recreate an understanding of what people understood at that time.

An Expectation and Some History

The people of Jesus' day were longing for the Messiah to appear, in order to end the exile from our land and bring about the redemption.  "What exile?", you ask.  The gospels clearly show that some Jews were living in the land of Israel and they were not living in "exile".  True, but did you know that the vast majority of the Jewish people were not anywhere near the land of Israel during the time of Jesus and Paul?  In a way that seems strangely parallel to today,

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some were living there, but most of the Jewish people had never returned either from the Assyrian expulsion (centuries before Solomon's Temple was destroyed) or from the Babylonian expulsion in the time of Daniel and Ezekiel.  They were scattered throughout the world then, just as we are today.

The book of Nehemiah4 describes the actual numbers of Jewish people who returned to Israel after they were allowed to return by their captors.  They account for less than 10 percent of the Jewish captives from the Babylonian exile alone.  Indeed, because of the events chronicled in the book of Esther5, many Jews did not feel the need to return to a desolate land to rebuild a difficult life among ruins when, for the first time since the exile began, they were being given a new freedom to practice their beliefs safely in a protective and nurturing environment.  Most of Judah did not rush home… and almost none of the northern kingdom of Israel had returned to their birthright.  This is the climate into which a 20 year old general named, Alexander ascended the throne of his late father, Phillip II.

Greek Influence Sweeps Over the World

When Alexander the Great conquered most of the entire ancient world, it become one large Macedonian/Greek kingdom.  The Greek influence was so widely felt that it affected the language and culture of the Jews living everywhere on earth.  Alexander forced his religious system and culture upon everyone on earth… almost.  For a strange and fascinating reason (which we will not explore in this writing), he allowed the Jews to continue their "peculiar" ways in peace and gave them complete freedom to move throughout the world safely, so the whole world became the Jewish learner's classroom.  G-d had supernaturally protected the Jews' right to remain Jewish in a non-Jewish, Greek world… but sadly much of the Jewish world became enamored with the Greek world and rather than being a "light to the nations", was heavily influenced by it.  Assimilation (then known as "Hellenization") became the greatest crisis facing the Jew then, just as it is today.

The largest Jewish population in the world at that time was in Alexandria, Egypt - so named for the conqueror.  Greek became the universal language of the day, in much the same way that English is now the worldwide accepted "bridge" language.  Had air traffic controllers existed in Alexander's day, they would have been landing planes all over the world using Greek to do so, just like English is used today in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, etc.

So many Jewish people no longer were speaking or teaching their children Hebrew, that a need developed to translate the Jewish Bible into the language that most Jews spoke: Greek.  Seventy rabbis began a translation which would bring the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), the prophets and the Psalms to their quickly assimilating brethren all over the Greek speaking world.  This translation was known as the Septuagint.  Remember, all of these things took place a couple of centuries before the time of Jesus, and long before Rome was a world power.

In many ways, the existence of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) would later be a great help for translators of the New Testament and there are many examples in the New Testament where

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the writer quotes the Greek Septuagint translation of a prophecy rather than the Hebrew.  It all points to how prevalent the Greek way of thinking had become to people in Jesus' day.

The “Land of the East”: Babylon

The second largest Jewish population in the ancient world still lived in what the Bible refers to as Babylon and Persia (today's Iraq and Iran).  The greatest schools of Jewish learning were from these areas.  The Babylonian Talmud (Mishnah - commentary on the Bible and Gemara - case studies of the Mishnah) was penned by Jewish scholars during the two centuries following the second (Herod's) Temple's and Jerusalem's destruction by the Roman armies, long after Jesus' departure and shortly after Paul's death.

This helps to explain the reference to "wise men from the east"6, used in the gospels to denote those who came to seek out the promised king of Israel and why there would be Jewish "magi" (the aramaic [Babylonian] term for men of wisdom and understanding was "mag"). Daniel the prophet, who lived in Babylon, was made the ruler over all of the magi of Babylon.7

Reminders of Moses

To the Jewish people who lived in the land of Israel, the long awaited Promised One would not just be someone coming to restore Israel to the glory days of King David, but would be someone far more earth-shaking... a second Moses.

Moses, the one who stood in defiance of Pharaoh and wrought G-d's wrath upon the land of Egypt so that all the nations of the world trembled to hear of it; Moses, the great prophet who talked with G-d face to face, the man who ascended to the top of Mount Sinai and brought down the very Word of G-d inscribed on stone, to give it to the people; Moses, the man who on several occasions when the people had sinned, stood before G-d asking for forgiveness for all of Israel, and each time G-d granted his request; Moses, who led the people of Israel out of the exile of Egypt and brought them to the Land that G-d had promised to their fathers. Israel heard the words of G-d delivered through the mouth of Moses, and learned also that rebellion against Moses was tantamount to rebellion against G-d Himself. How could there ever be another prophet like Moses?

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses' words to the people are recorded: "The L-RD your G-d will raise up a prophet from your midst, from your brothers, like unto me; you must listen to him."8 This prophecy of one who would come in the future, who would be "like unto Moses", was one of the foundations for Jewish belief in the coming of the Messiah. Though the book of Deuteronomy concludes with the words, "there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like unto Moses,"9 yet the people had faith in G-d's promise that such a prophet would someday arise, and they longed for his arrival.

Many traditions had arisen about the Messiah's coming, what he would do and what he would say, and many passages of Scripture were studied and applied to the arrival of the Messiah, but at the bottom of all of the traditions and legends was one foundational premise: the Messiah would resemble Moses in every

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conceivable way. "The final Redeemer [the Messiah] will be like the first Redeemer [Moses]" was a common rabbinic axiom.10

Thus, when we look at the words and actions of Jesus, it must always be remembered that the expectation of the people of His day was that the Messiah would be "like unto Moses". Moreover, this explains the often asked question, "Is this the prophet who was to come into the world?"11

Remember that during Jesus earthly sojourn, the Bat Kol (the voice from heaven) had proclaimed, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hearken to Him."12 (a direct reference to the prophecy from Deuteronomy).

So what would happen if we examined Jesus' walk on water for similarities to the life of Moses? Was there any event in Moses' life that foreshadowed this early morning walk of faith?

Water-Walk II: the Red Sea Prequel

To begin, let's rewind the movie screens in our minds to the book of Exodus, just after the first Passover has taken place. Pharaoh has finally demanded that Israel leave Egypt, and the people immediately pack up and go. They are journeying into the wilderness, and then G-d turns them around and leads them towards the Red Sea, which appears to be a dead end. Back in Egypt, Pharaoh has changed his mind and decided to pursue Israel to wipe them out completely. He gathers all of his chariots, horsemen and footmen and sets out to trap Israel at the seashore, where no one will be able to escape. Ahead, the sea bars Israel's progress. On both sides, impassable mountains block their way, while behind them Pharaoh's army approaches. There is no way out.

The people of Israel lift up their eyes and see Egypt coming after them, and they are terrified. Many cry out to G-d for aid, while some blame Moses for being the cause of their imminent deaths. Moses tells the people not to fear, but to stand fast and watch G-d's salvation; they will never see Egypt like this again.

At this point, G-d says to Moses, "Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the children of Israel and let them journey forth."13 Why does G-d tell Moses to stop crying out to Him? The Jewish rabbis deduced from this that Moses must have been praying to G-d for quite a long time, while the people became more and more panicked; now G-d is telling Moses that it is time to tell the people to act by crossing the sea. While this detail may not seem important, you might want to store it away in your mind for now: prior to the crossing of the Red Sea, Moses had been praying to G-d for some time.

Next, G-d sends a powerful east wind which blows all night long. As we watch this take place in our minds' movie screens, it is clear that a miracle is being performed here: the wind does not affect Israel when they cross the Sea from west to east. Were this a natural wind, no one could stand up against it, much less travel directly into it.

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The sea divides, and the people begin to cross. Now how would this have looked? If you've ever seen a seabed, you know that it is not a level expanse of sand. There are hills and valleys, rocks and crevices, cliffs and canyons that would make walking across the seabed very difficult, if not impossible. So how did Israel manage to cross along with all their young children, animals and possessions? Let's look more closely at the passage itself for a better picture.

"Dry Ground" - a Quicksand of Translation

Most English translations of Exodus 14:22 tell us that "the children of Israel came in the midst of the sea upon dry [ground], and the waters were a wall to them, on their right and on their left." Now as you read the translation of this passage, you may note that the word "ground" is in brackets (or italics, as the case may be), and for good reason: the word "ground" is not in the actual Hebrew text, but the translators have made an assumption and put it there in order to "fill in the blanks" of their understanding in order to make it more understandable to the English-speaking reader. It must be understood that the word "ground" in this passage is not Scripture, but human commentary on the text. Without any of the translators' additions, the verse would say that "Israel went in the midst of the sea upon the dryness." So it must be understood that nowhere does the text say that G-d parted the waters right down to the seabed and then dried up "the ground" of the seabed to enable Israel to get across. In fact, Psalm 66 recounts the Exodus story and says regarding the crossing of the Sea, "He changed the sea into dryness...", 14 that is, it does not say that G-d

parted the sea to "reveal the dry ground", but rather that He actually "transformed" (Hebrew: lpv haphak - "converted") the sea water into "dryness". The Hebrew word, "yabashah" (vach), sometimes translated "dry", is legitimately translated "solid" in this particular passage. (For a more detailed explanation of vach and of the specific nuances in this passage, see endnote 15.)

Based on the above analysis, the famous Jewish commentator Ohr HaChaim taught a fascinating explanation of the Red Sea crossing. He said that in order to spare Israel from having to navigate the rocky seabed, G-d separated the waters into two layers. The upper layer He split, making the waters into a "solidified" wall on each side, but He caused the lower layer of water (the depths) to solidify underfoot, so that Israel could walk across on the surface of the depths, with protection on both sides by "solidified" wave walls. This interpretation of events would also explain why the Bible frequently refers to Israel walking "in the midst of the Sea.16 So, does the Ohr HaChaim have any other biblical proof of this claim, that there were layers in the sea, and that the lower layer of deep waters was solidified for Israel to walk across? Let us look at Exodus 15, during the Song sung by the people immediately after the crossing: "At a blast from Your nostrils the waters were heaped up, straight as a wall stood the running waters; the deep waters became congealed in the heart of

the Sea."17 The Hebrew word "kapha" (tpe), translated, "congealed" - literally means "to thicken; to be curdled; to become dense". The Hebrew of the Bible says that the deep waters were "made dense"… in other words, they were solidified.

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Israel walked through the night upon the top of solidified waves... as we look at that mental movie, comparisons start springing to our minds. "This was just like what Jesus did!" "He was showing Himself to be a second Moses!" Finally, we can understand the motivation behind the miracle, and appreciate the effect it must have had on the disciples.

But wait, we haven't even gotten started yet.

"Seeing the Salvation of the L-RD"

Picking up where we left off in our mental movie, we see Israel crossing the sea... by walking on top of some water, with towering walls of water on each side... unhindered by the strong winds. Before we jump forward again to the time of Jesus, let's finish this particular part of the story. Israel proceeds to cross the sea throughout the night, but as morning approaches, Egypt is still pursuing Israel, and we can see their chariots gaining quickly.

At the "time of the morning watch",18 which is the last watchman's shift during the night and corresponds to 2:00-6:00 AM, G-d looked down upon Egypt and threw them into confusion, so much confusion that later on as the sea came crashing down on them, the Egyptians were actually running further into the sea, instead of running away from it. Picture an army which suddenly has trouble figuring out which way is up... and then G-d made their chariots fall apart. At this point, Egypt realizes that it is doomed. Moses stretches out his hand one more time, and the water upon which the Egyptians also have been walking and driving returns "to its full depth",19 and the armored Egyptians sink like stones. The walls of water then collapse, covering any trace of the Egyptian army, and all is still. The people stand still in shock, looking back at the now-peaceful waters, while the wind dies away, leaving a great calm. Then, as G-d brings the bodies of the Egyptians to the shore, and each of the people of Israel see their own tormentors powerless to harm them ever again, a great fear of G-d falls upon them... and then, all at once, they all simultaneously burst into a song of praise.

As of this moment, after the miraculous crossing, they have a full and complete "faith in G-d, and in His servant Moses"20. Further trials and tests of faith may await in the future, but here and now they recognize the power of G-d and the authority He has given to Moses to be His representative.

Now let's hit the fast-forward button and jump to the time of Jesus, to look at the context of His water-walk.

According to the narrative found in Matthew 14, "Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side... and He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, racked by waves, for the wind was contrary [an east wind]."21

This sets up the scenario for us. We have all the ingredients here to begin our comparison: it is late at night, there is a powerful east wind blowing over the water, the disciples are growing frightened, and Jesus has been spending some time alone, praying at length.

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The narrative continues: "Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a spirit!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Courage! It is I; do not be afraid.” "22

Note the time of night Jesus chose to walk on the water: the fourth watch of the night. The fourth night watch had another name: the 'morning watch', so called because it was the watch which finished as morning broke; it was between 3:00-6:00 AM. 23

Now what about the disciples' reaction to seeing Him? Why the terror, why the cries of fear? Most of all, why did they think it was "a spirit"? You have probably seen translations which say that they thought it was a ghost (the departed soul of a dead person). But the idea of dead men's ghosts walking around, the whole concept of 'haunting', while part of Anglo-Saxon lore, was completely foreign to the Jewish way of thinking. Jewish belief understood that when a person died, their soul would never wander the earth. Ghosts in white sheets were very popular in pagan European tradition, but not in the Judaism of Jesus' day. So what "spirits" did they believe in? Well, that should be obvious to anyone who reads the Bible. Unclean spirits, otherwise known as demons, were well-known in those days, and Jesus cast out many unclean spirits who were possessing people. He even referred to them in his teachings, telling of unclean spirits who, once cast out of a man, traveled through dry and desolate places seeking rest.24 Unclean spirits were a fact of life, and the only people who denied their existence were the Sadducees, who didn't even believe in resurrection or Heaven or Hell. 25

Keep in mind that nothing in the Scripture is put there by accident or in a careless way; every word has a purpose. Since that is the case, what purpose does it serve for us to know that the disciples thought they saw an unclean spirit coming after them? Could this be paralleling something in the Red Sea story, something we haven't discovered? Let's take a look.

Who Was 'Egypt' Understood to Be?

When we are looking for details of the story that don't appear on the surface, a good way to begin is to look for strange or unusual wording which can only be found in the Hebrew text (not in the English) of the passage. Often Hebrew contains clues to hidden aspects of the story. As it turns out, there are a couple of sentences in the Red Sea passage that don't seem strange in English, but they look downright odd in Hebrew. First, before the Sea was split: "...the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold! Egypt was journeying after them, and they were very frightened; and the children of Israel cried out to the L-RD."26 So, what's unusual about this? They see huge armies of chariots approaching, and they are terrified. Wouldn't you be? But there is just one problem. The text doesn't say they saw the armies or the chariots... or the Egyptians. The Hebrew text says that they saw "Egypt". Was this simply a reference to the Egyptian army as a whole, as a unit? No. The wording in Hebrew is singular, not plural, and Hebrew is very specific about these kinds of things. The text literally says that the people saw some individual thing called "Egypt" coming after them. Later on in the passage, when G-d is breaking the chariots of the Egyptians, the Hebrew text clearly refers to an individual when it says, "Egypt said, 'I will flee from before Israel, for the L-RD is waging war

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for them... against Egypt.'”27 Who is speaking here? Had it been a collection of people, wouldn't they have said, "We will flee..." ?

The Jewish rabbis puzzled over this wording, knowing that since G-d referred to "Egypt" as an individual, there must be some individual representative, someone who was like the embodiment of Egypt. Based upon other places in the Bible, the rabbis believe that each and every nation on earth has a spiritual representative, an angel (or demon) who stands for that nation and is known as its "prince". Thus, they reasoned, Israel "lifted up their eyes" and saw the spiritual being which is Egypt, the demonic "prince of Egypt" coming after them (no relation to the movie). They were terrified (understandably), and felt that they could not hope to escape the clutches of this demonic being; but Moses told them not to fear even this creature, but to "stand fast and see the salvation of the L-RD".

Now before you roll your eyes and label this legend a 'fable', please remember that the idea of spiritual "princes" over different nations is first mentioned not in the Talmud, but in the Bible, in the book of Daniel. In chapter 10, Daniel is speaking to an angelic being who has fought against the "prince of the kingdom of Persia" for twenty-one days, and was helped by Micha'el, another angel.28 The angel says that once he goes back to fight against the "prince of Persia", the "prince of Greece" will arrive.29 Later on, in chapter 12, Micha'el is mentioned again, with the words: "Michael... the great prince which stands for the children of [Israel]".30 In other words, Micha'el is Israel's "prince". Remember, all of this is from the Bible, not something made up by men.

At this point, perhaps the rabbinic interpretation doesn't seem quite so farfetched as it did before. If you still find it too much to swallow, that's fine. It is not a prerequisite that you believe this legend, only that you understand that the disciples of Jesus knew of it and would respond accordingly.

According to the rabbinic understanding, this demonic power was finally thrown into the Red Sea by G-d Himself as the Egyptian army was drowned. The Bible clearly says that the Egyptian army was covered over by the sea: "The water came back and covered the chariots and the horsemen of the entire army of Pharaoh...",31 yet in the Song at the Sea, it clearly states that G-d "is exalted over the arrogant, having thrown the horse with its rider into the sea."32 Again, the wording in Hebrew is decidedly singular. Whether you believe that this tradition was meant to be taken literally or just as a parable, perhaps you can see a foreshadowing in the casting of this demonic "prince" into the sea, a foreshadowing of the final judgment on the Adversary and his demons when they are cast into the lake of fire.33

In any case, it is important to realize that the disciples knew this legend very well, and in the hours, days and even years to come, they would have reflected on their own fears and understood in a unique way what it was like to be at the Red Sea with the unclean spirit of "Egypt" chasing after them. And they would well have remembered Jesus' response to their own fears: "Courage!"34 The disciples of Jesus had read the Exodus account in Hebrew, but they also would have read it in Greek, in the Septuagint. It translates Moses' words of comfort to the people: "Courage! Stand firm and see the salvation of the L-RD..."35

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What about the term, "the salvation of the L-RD"? Many people read the name "Jesus" (an altered form of the Greek 'Iesous') in their English Bibles, and do not realize that His disciples, His family, even His enemies would have used His Hebrew name, "Y'shua", which does have a literal meaning. It means "G-d's Salvation" or "G-d Will Save".

In the Bible, Hebrew names had significance in their meaning. They represented the personality of a person, or their lifelong goals, which is why some people had several names or changed their names after a momentous change in the focus of their lives. But when translators of the Bible chose not to translate the names, choosing instead to "transliterate" the Hebrew words so that we could hear what they sounded like, it kept us from learning the meaning of the names, and therefore we lost some of the significance of that person's purpose.

This helps to explain the passage in Matthew before Y'shua is born, where the angel is speaking to Joseph, His foster-father. The angel says, "You shall call His name Y'shua [G-d's Salvation], for He will save His people from their sins."36 If we don't understand the meaning of the name, we miss the significance in the angel's proclamation. But now, we can see that "you shall call His name 'G-d Will Save', for He will save His people from their sins." It makes perfect sense now.

So, knowing what we do now about the meaning of Jesus' name, let's summarize the walking on water passage. The disciples see what they take to be an unclean spirit, and they are frightened. They immediately received Jesus' response, "Courage! It is I." In other words, "Courage! It is 'G-d's Salvation'." Also, they would have remembered reading how Moses called out to the people, "Stand fast and see the 'Y'shua' of the L-rd".

What Was Peter Thinking?

After Jesus reveals Himself to the disciples and calms their fears, we read that “Peter answered Him and said, 'Master, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' So He said, 'Come.' And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.”37

At this point in the story, many people might be thinking to themselves, "Oy, Peter's a lot more brave than I would be under those circumstances. That guy sure had a lot of faith. I mean, getting out of the boat? What was he thinking?!" Paradoxically, those same people might click their tongues in condescension as they read the next verse, saying to themselves, "Ah, that doubting Peter. When will he learn to have faith? He just wasn't brave enough, didn't have enough faith to stay on top, so he started sinking. If only he'd had more faith..." And indeed, Jesus asked him why he had doubted, calling him "Little-Faith". But just because Peter was lacking somewhat in faith, can we say that this was the reason he sank? Let's take a closer look.

"But when he saw the mighty wind, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Master, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O little-faith, why did you doubt?”38

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If you ask most people why Peter got out of the boat in the first place, they will give you answers like, "He was carried away by the emotion of the moment; he was an impulsive guy", or "He wanted to get in on the action; he was a very hands-on individual". In light of the symbolism we have been seeing in this entire episode, is there perhaps another explanation for Peter's behavior? Did he make a mistake, jumping into the middle of things and messing up a perfect foreshadowing Mosaic picture of the coming Messiah, or was his action the most symbolic piece of the entire puzzle?

A Leap of Faith

To make sense of Peter's actions, we need to look once more at the traditions and legends of the rabbis. In the rabbinic retelling of the Red Sea story, there is a character who figures prominently in the crossing itself, and though the Bible does not mention him in this particular passage, he is a well-respected, somewhat famous individual in certain other passages of Scripture. His name is Nach'shon, son of Aminadav.

The Bible tells us that Nach'shon was the leader of the tribe of Judah, often called the "prince of the tribe of Judah".39 No, this is not the same kind of prince that we were talking about earlier, but you need to know that he was held in very high regard and was one of the twelve leaders of the nation under Moses. The tribe of Judah itself was considered the foremost of the tribes, because Jacob (also known as Israel), the father of all the tribes, had blessed Judah and given him the right of kingship.40 Judah was officially the royal tribe. Nach'shon was also King David's great-great-great-grandfather, which puts Nach'shon in the direct lineage of Jesus.41 In fact, one of the traditional titles that the rabbis gave to the coming Messiah was the "Son of Nach'shon".42

According to legend, Nach'shon first became famous at the shore of the Red Sea. When G-d gave the order to walk into the sea, the waters had not yet parted and solidified (this can easily be verified by reading the Biblical account)43, and all of the people were afraid to venture forth. But in the legend,44 Nach'shon, hearing the command of G-d, immediately ran forward and leaped into the sea. He didn't care whether the water had yet parted. G-d had commanded for them to go forth, and he was going forth. However, as the sea was still in its natural state, he found it difficult to keep above water, and the rabbis quote Psalm 69 as a passage which could be applied to him at that moment: "Save me O G-d, for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing... Let not the waterflood overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up."45 As Nach'shon cried out to G-d for help, Moses received the command from G-d to "stretch out his hand over the sea"46, so that Nach'shon would be rescued. "Nach'shon's Leap" became a proverbial expression for bravery and faith, and of obedience to G-d's commands even at the risk of one's life.

Once again, whether you believe this really happened or think it's just an interesting parable, the important thing is that the disciples knew this tradition and believed it, and would see parallels to the events they were going through.

Let us look at this event again with new eyes. It is conceivable that Peter sees Jesus walking on the water, and the Red Sea crossing immediately comes to his mind. He says, "if it is You, command me to come to You on the

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water".47 In his mind, this statement is clear: if Jesus is the "second Moses", then He should command us to journey forth onto the waves. Jesus commands him to come, and he jumps down out of the boat and starts to walk, not realizing that he may be playing the part of Nach'shon, whose faith was exemplary but whose buoyancy was lacking... Nach'shon who sank before being rescued. Peter sees the storm and becomes afraid, but holds on to his courage and presses on, and then... horror of horrors! he starts to sink. We can only imagine what must have gone through his mind in that moment. "Have I been abandoned? Does G-d want me to drown? Why is He letting this happen to me? Was I wrong to request this?" etc. In his terror and despair, he cries out to Jesus for help... and immediately, Jesus "stretches out His hand"48 and saves him. As the shock and panic wears off, Peter begins to realize the part he has just played, and his own words and actions fall into perspective as he realizes that his sinking was part of the plan all along. He hears Jesus say to him, "Why did you doubt?"48 Peter shakes his head in chagrin, knowing that his faith had indeed faltered as he slipped beneath the waves.

As they climbed into the boat together, the wind ceased, another reminder of the Red Sea. The disciples bowed down to Jesus, in so doing, proclaiming their belief that He was the Messiah, the second Moses.

Remember that after the Red Sea crossing, the Bible recorded that "the people believed in Moses".49 Another parallel.

What time of year did all this happen? John 6:4 provides the answer: "And the Passover, a festival of the Jews, was at hand." Whenever one of G-d's holy festivals was drawing near, everyone studied portions of the Bible that dealt with that particular festival. Furthermore, it has been an established tradition for thousands of years that the passage of the Red Sea crossing is always read during the Passover season. It seems that the disciples were being given the opportunity to witness first hand the crossing of the sea, within a week or two of the Passover celebration and the anniversary of the nation's water-walk.

One Last Piece to the Puzzle: Teleportation

In John 6:21, we read, "Then they willingly received Him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land where they were going." This is an extremely odd event, unless again... we can find something in the disciples' understanding that would point to a Mosaic quality.

The rabbis, looking at the biblical quote where G-d says, "I bore you to me on wings of eagles",50 have a tradition that G-d supernaturally transported them51 in an instant out of Egypt, "rapturing" them in a split second away from the Egyptian city of Rameses to the area of Sukkot,52 where they would begin to journey on their feet, using natural means, before crossing the Red Sea.

The teleportation of the disciples would have been the icing on their cake, completing the comparison of Moses and Messiah in a most profound way. It would be this and other similar "movie moment" incidents, long after His resurrection and ascension, that would have given them the courage to boldly proclaim Jesus

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as the long awaited "Prophet like unto Moses", Messiah and final Redeemer, even to the point of giving up their own lives to do so.

A Challenge

We have looked at the first part of Deuteronomy 18:15 and we have seen that the Messiah will be like unto Moses; but what does the rest of the passage say? "And it will be that anyone who will not hearken to My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him."53 The voice from Heaven proclaims, "Hearken to Him!"54 Are you doing so?_________________________________________

Endnotes:1 Matthew 14:242 Mark 4:413 John 6:214 Nehemiah 7:665 Esther 8:15-17, 10:36 Matthew 2:17 Daniel 2:488 Deuteronomy 18:159 Deuteronomy 34:1010 Kohelet Rabbah 1:28, Ruth Rabbah 5:611 Matthew 11:3, 21:11, John 1:21, 6:14, 7:4012 Luke 9:3513 Exodus 14:1514 Psalm 66:615 The Hebrew word, "yabashah" (vach) is a word which is commonly translated as "dry" or "dryness". vach is also

used to express a withering or drying out of normally moist substances, such as plants or bread, or even human bodies, which have nothing to do with the ground or land at all. From this we can see that the word 'yabashah' does not refer specifically to ground or earth, nor even a substance which is dry to the touch, but rather it denotes the absence of liquid from something usually wet… and in the realm of physical science, a tangible 'non-liquid' is not referred to as a 'dry', but as a 'solid'. The word 'yabashah' can be translated 'solid'. Regarding the properties of water, Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch (on Genesis 49:4) makes the point that water's primary attribute is first internal instability, then afterward, moisture. He affirms that, "the most general innate characteristic of liquids as such would be the lack of cohesion, instability." Hirsch Vol 1 - Bereishis, pg. 659

16 Exodus 14:16, 14:22, 14:29, 15:19, Numbers 33:8, Psalm 136:14, Nehemiah 9:1117 Exodus 15:818 Exodus 14:2419 Exodus 14:2720 Exodus 14:3121 Matthew 14:23-2422 Matthew 14:25-2623 Originally, the night was divided into three watches, with the final one, the 'morning watch', between 2:00-6:00 AM. By

the time of the 2nd Temple period, a fourth night watch had been instituted due to Roman rule, and the fourth or 'morning watch' was now from 3:00-6:00 AM.

24 Luke 11:2425 Acts 23:826 Exodus 14:1027 Exodus 14:2528 Daniel 10:13

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29 Daniel 10:20-2130 Daniel 12:131 Exodus 14:2832 Exodus 15:133 Revelation 20:1034 Matthew 14:2735 Exodus 14:13 - Septuagint translation36 Matthew 1:2137 Matthew 14:28-2938 Matthew 14:30-3139 Numbers 2:3, 1 Chronicles 2:1040 Genesis 49:8-1241 Matthew 1:442 B'midbar Rabbah 13:1243 Exodus 14:15-1644 Sotah 37a, B'midbar Rabbah 13:4, 13:745 Psalm 69:2, 1646 Exodus 14:1647 Matthew 14:2848 Matthew 14:3149 Exodus 14:3150 Exodus 19:451 Rashi on Exodus 12:3752 Exodus 12:37, Numbers 33:3, 553 Deuteronomy 18:1954 Luke 9:35

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