ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Monite Ma’asi 13, 2023

Buried and Born at Sea  ים סוף 

Tanu mo Fakafo‘ou ‘i Tahi

EXODUS 15:4

PHARAOH'S CHARIOTS AND HIS HOST HE CAST INTO THE SEA, AND HIS CHOSEN OFFICERS WERE SUNK IN THE RED SEA.

‘EKISOTO 15:4

Ko e ngaahi sāliote ‘a Felo mo ‘ene hōsitē kuo ne tolo ki tahi na: ‘Io, ko ‘ene kau kapiteni fili kuo pe‘ehi ‘i he Tahi Kulokula.

The Red Sea is the yam suf. A yam is a sea, and suf is a reed or other water plant. For instance, Moses' mother set his miniark "among the suf [reeds]" by the Nile to save him from Pharaoh (Exod. 2:3). Now, eighty years later, God will use this same Moses both to save Israel through the waters and to entomb Pharaoh and his army in the sea of suf. Likewise, as Miriam, the sister of Moses, stood by the Nile and spoke to Pharaoh's daughter on her brother's behalf (2:7), she also stands by this body of water and proclaims against Pharaoh, "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea" "(15:21).

"All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea," Paul says (1 Cor. 10:2). The yam suf was one massive baptismal body bag as well as the liquid womb of life. We are both buried and born at sea. Israel was baptized into Moses there as we "are baptized into Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:3). The "old Pharaoh" within us drowns; we emerge on the other side of the baptismal  yam suf alive in the resurrected Jesus.

Drown in us, O Lord, all sinful passions, and raise us up by your forgiving mercy.