Why does the Lord say, “I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass?”
The sea often symbolizes a threatening, chaotic force in the world. In certain Canaanite religions the sea was seen as Yam, the god of chaos.1 But the Lord has placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass.” The Lord is the all-powerful creator who controls the whole of his creation, even those parts of it that Judah may have feared. It is he who controls the waves that toss
and roar
but cannot pass
the barriers he has set for them. Judah has failed to perceive the Lord as creator; instead they have turned to the false gods of the Canaanites for hope and protection.
22 Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.