Tag: terror

The Terror of Death

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Then Abraham arose from mourning before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, “I am a stranger and a foreign resident among you; give me a burial site among you so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
Genesis 23:3-4 (NASB)

There are layers to scripture. Genesis 23 contains a long text about Abraham seeking a burial site for Sarah. It’s not just a story about negotiating over a plot of land.

Heth is the son of Canaan, son of Ham.

Heth means “terror.”

This is a story about dealing with the terror and agony of death.

Sea of Terror

Posted on by jovial_cynic
To the ancient Hebrew mind, Genesis 1:21 does not describe peaceful waters filled with whales and fish.

It’s filled with sea monsters, dragons, serpents, and wriggling swarming things.

It’s a place of terror.

So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:23

This isn’t just assumptions about history. The word “great sea creatures” is the Hebrew word that describes “dragons, sea monsters, serpents.”