Read Exodus 15:20-16:10 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Exo 15:20-21 {s} Dance of Miriam + Sing to YHVH, for He has triumphed gloriously!
Exo 15:22-26 {s} Israel complained of no water + waters of Marah (bitterness) made sweet
Exo 15:27-16:3 {s} Israel complained of no bread
Exo 16:4-10 {p} YHVH answered that He will provide bread from heaven
Strong theme
It is obvious that the dance of Miriam is a matching pair with the Song of Moses from Exo 15:1-19, the last strong theme. Miriam even repeats Moses’ praise word for word! But then to put Miriam’s dance in with events which seem to have nothing to do with it as in this collection of paragraphs? I had said that this is probably the reason the English translators discarded the Hebrew paragraph divisions in the first place – they do not line up with human logic!
So my question to the LORD is, when puzzles like this appear in Scripture, WHY? I know You have a reason, Father, for dividing this section up the way you have, and separating Miriam’s dance from the Song of Moses, and putting it here, but what is the reason? Because it is beyond human understanding to know it. And this was His answer:
Exo 15:1-19 {sx18+p} Strong theme: Song of Moses + praise for what YHVH has done
Exo 15:20-16:10 {sx3+p} Strong theme: Dance of Miriam + complaints for what YHVH has not done
Exo 15:20-16:10 Chiastic structure
Hebrew Roots
Disease is Strong’s H4245, machaleh, a concrete noun meaning, “sickness, disease;” from Strong’s H2470 חלה chalah, a primitive root meaning, “to be weak, to be sick.” The ancient pictographs are chet + lamed + hey.
chet ח = the wall, thus outside, divide, half
lamed ל = the shepherd’s staff, thus teach, yoke, to, bind
hey ה = man with upraised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
Gesenius says, “to be rubbed or worn,” thus to be weak or sick. From the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon:
A hole is drilled with a tool called a bow drill. The string of the bow is wrapped around the drill. By moving the bow back and forth, and firmly pressing down, the drill spins around drilling the hole.
As the string is wrapped around (chet, as a wall surrounds a house) the drill (lamed, i.e., the drill is a long stick with a sharpened end), to bore a hole, so a sickness can cause piercing pain (i.e., the body is pierced with pain as the bow drill pierces), so that a man beseeches (hey) another for relief.
Heals is Strong’s H7495 רפא rapha, a primitive root meaning, “to heal.” The ancient pictographs are resh + pey + aleph.
resh ר = the head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
pey פ, ף = the mouth, thus open, blow, scatter, edge
aleph א = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
Gesenius says, “to sew together, to mend.” The story the pictographs are telling is of a man (resh) with an open wound (pey, as an opening of the body) needs his wound mended by someone learned enough or powerful enough (aleph) to make him whole again.
There are several signs of Messiah in this strong theme: three days to a place of no water, meaning certain death, but then YHVH gives water and brings life from death; the tree is the agent used to accomplish life from death; bread from heaven (Joh 6:22-40); and Sabbath rest, the first picture of the gospel of grace in Torah.
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