Sticks and Stones
He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, and He made the waters stand up like a heap. Psalm 78:13 NASB
Like a heap – How did the waters of the yām sûp (Sea of Reeds, usually known as the “Red Sea”) stand up? Oh, I don’t mean, “What was the mechanism that made the waters part?” What I mean is, “What did the separated waters look like?” The answer is “a heap.” But what exactly is “a heap”? The Hebrew word, נֵד (nēd), is only used in a few places in Scripture. Waltke notes: “It should be distinguished from gal a pile of stones, ʿî a heap of stones forming a ruin or waste, ʿărēmâ a gathering, a ruin-heap, and tēl a hill of ruins.”[1] Alright, we’ll make sure we don’t think of nēd like any of these other terms. But does that mean that the Hollywood version of the crossing, with waters held at bay hundreds of feet high, is the correct picture? This word is used to describe the waters at creation (Psalm 33:7) and the crossing of the Jordan River (Joshua 3:13). It’s a primal event, initiated by God. So how do we “paint” this picture? Should we think of this like the current definition of our English word:
a disorderly collection of objects placed haphazardly on top of each other: a heap of cardboard boxes | her clothes lay in a heap on the floor. • an amount of a particular loose substance: a heap of gravel.
The question becomes a bit more difficult when we realize that the root of this word is an assumption. The noun (nēd) must come from a verb, but there is no verb in the Tanakh that fits the bill. The root would be something like ndd, but the only root like this is נָדַד (nādad), a word that means, “to depart, to flee, to move, to wander abroad,” as we see in Isaiah 10:31; 21:15; 22:3; 33:3; Jeremiah 4:25; 9:9; and Psalms 68:12 [H 13]). It’s not obvious how departing or fleeing can be associated with “heap,” so scholars have proposed that there is second instance of the root, an instance that does not appear in any Scriptural text. Don’t be too surprised. This actually happens often. But let’s try a different approach. What do the consonants Nun-Dalet tell us? Nun – action, activity, life. Dalet – door, path. The water (an ancient symbol for threatening chaos) has been changed into a path of life. Hmm, isn’t that exactly what happened? The waters, threats to Israel’s continued existence, the roadblocks to escape or entry, are parted and a pathway to life opens. Maybe all we really need from this absent root is what the consonants describe. Maybe “heap” is just an abbreviated picture of God’s path to life.
Yes, of course, we still need to pay attention to the etymology (if we can find it), and yes, we still need to postulate absent roots in hopes of understanding the idea. But sometimes it might just be as simple as a word-picture. Maybe the English actually steers us in the wrong direction.
Topical Index: heap, nēd, waters parted, Psalm 78:13
[1] Waltke, B. K. (1999). 1301 נדד. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 555). Chicago: Moody Press.
