Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bill Ross" <BillRoss AT norisksoftware.com>]

<Bill>
Greetings, and thanks in advance...

My understanding of the ancient world's view of the sea is that it is
the abode of chaos and is thus the enemy of G-d. Ie: It is to the land
what darkness is to light, and night to day. So while G-d did not
dispense with darkness or the sea or the darkness and the night in this
world, he seperates and when he wants to invoke evil imagery it is
"darkness" and "the sea." 

It seems that in the idealized world of the eschatology in the NT, there
is no more night, no more darkness and no more sea:

Revelation 22:5  And there shall be no night there; and they need no
candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light:
and they shall reign for ever and ever.

Revelation 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

It is equally bad for "the inhabitants of the Earth":

Revelation 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in
them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth  and of the sea! for the devil
is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he
hath but a short time.

So why is the sea to "roar" at the manifestation of the sons of God in
Ps 98?:

Psalms 98:7  Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and
they that dwell therein.

It seems that this verse is couched in a very positive segment. My
question then is, is there anything in the Hebrew here to indicate that
this "roaring" is a positive or a negative thing? I mean, can it mean to
roar in anguish rather than pleasure?

Bill Ross