Introduction
Having filled the heavens with lights on the fourth day, God then moved to the second day of filling (the fifth day). God filled the skies with a variety of winged birds and the seas with every variety of sea creature. He then issued a blessing to the fish and birds to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. As God created these lifeforms, they were to pro-create and fill the earth. God invested within them the power of creating life. It hints that God has intended the lifeforms He created to behave like Him and be creative.
The flow (day four to day five) moves from heaven to earth. Yet the first activities of filling the earth suggest God views the earth as a microcosm of His creation. In the first three days He created three spaces: heaven, earth and the deep. In filling the earth, He first fills earth’s visible heavens (the air) and the sea, often considered the remnant of the deep that God earlier bounded. It is on the sixth day that He will fill the third earthly space, the land. Thus, God appears to have constructed the earth as a visible model of His greater creation to allow man to more easily grasp future ethical lessons He will develop.
It is also the first mention of living things, suggestive that for the author of Genesis, mobility was part of what made things “living”. The creation of fish and birds (waterborne and winged creatures) on the fifth day parallels the creation of the seas and skies on the second day. Where the second day divided, separated and bounded these domains, the fifth day fills these domains with mobile lifeforms. Genesis 1:20 uses the Hebrew שֶׁרֶץ sherets, meaning teeming things when describing these lifeforms though sherets more generally means swarming things and can include insects or even land animals or reptiles. With the events of day 5 determined, we may now examine the symbolism of some of the words and creatures introduced on this day.
Bringing Forth Abundantly, Frogs and their Eschatological Implications
These creatures were to bring forth abundantly (שָׁרַץ sharats), an important word given its use in the description of the Israelites in Egypt. Exodus 1:7 tells us the Israelites increased exceedingly, filling the land. The use of sharats shows that God’s creation-blessing was upon them. It led to a concern among the Egyptians that the Israelites needed to be controlled, leading to their enslavement. The use of sharats (another word from the Genesis 1 narrative) to describe the Israelites further reinforces earlier claims that Moses described Israel’s exodus as a new creation – the creation of God’s people.
The second occurrence in Exodus 8:3 (see also Psalm 105:30) was in judgment with the plague of frogs, which also brought forth abundantly, covering the land. It seems significant given the earlier observation that the end-time judgments are modeled after the exodus judgments of Israel. John’s description of three demonic powers (unclean spirits) whose appearance were as frogs (Revelation 16:13) seems significant. These frogs came out of the mouth of the dragon (Satan), the beast and the false prophet. John records that these three spirits work miracles, going forth to the kings of the world to gather them for battle at Armageddon. That these evil spirits came out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet is significant in light of Revelation 12:15-17 where the dragon is envisioned casting from his mouth water as a flood to destroy the woman who represents Israel. First the dragon attempts to destroy God’s covenant-community with a flood of false miracles and lies (from his mouth), and then turns to deceive the kings of the earth with a plague of frogs – not so numerous to cover the land but far more dangerous in their deceptions and false miracles. [1] John’s employment of frogs suggests an echo to the plague of frogs from the exodus where unclean frogs suggest false demonic testimony, hinting at idolatrous testimony and belief. [2] There is also unexpected irony that angels dry the river Euphrates to prepare the way for the kings of the East, in contrast with the Jordan River at Israel’s entrance to the land (Joshua 3:14-17). It hints of a possible “false” exodus and coincident “false” eisodus of people who believe they can gain the land through military force. [3] That the kings of the earth are “gathered” to the land points to a false ingathering in which those opposed to God attempt to seize Abraham’s inheritance by force (Revelation 16:14). The appearance of these “frogs” urges readiness for Christ’s unexpected return (vs 15).
Fish, Great Creatures of the Sea and Their Eschatological Implications
The absence or presence of fish in eschatological passages points toward the judgment of God (Exodus 7:18; Psalm 105:29; Isaiah 19:10; 50:2; Ezekiel 29:4 – absence of fish) or restoration (Ezekiel 47:9-10 – abundance of fish) provided in the new heaven and new earth. Ezekiel 47 is noteworthy with a vision of Eden restored rooted in Israel’s return to the land, her rebuilding of the temple and reestablishment of the cult. In eschatological context, the restored temple should follow the events that occur during “the Day of the Lord” (see Ezekiel chapters 38-39), a time of intense persecution of God’s people. Thus, Ezekiel 47 affirms the triumph of God in the vision of Israel restored. There is a river flowing from the restored temple that swarms with fish, signifying fulfillment of God’s blessing to fill the seas. It is a flag that God’s new creation is now complete, as the seas have truly become filled with fish. That living creatures swarm (teem) also shows Eden restored with the fulfillment of God’s mandate to be fruitful and multiply. Ezekiel thus uses fish symbolically to portend the fulfillment of God’s new creation.
Scripture also mention “great creatures of the sea” (תַּנִּין tanniyn), typically translated as dragon, sea/river monster (Psalm 74:13-14, 148:7 and Isaiah 27:1; Lamentations 4:3 Ezekiel 29:3; 32:2 or serpent (Psalm 91:13; Isaiah 13:22; 34;13; 35:7; 43:20; Jeremiah 10:22; 14:6; 49:33; 51:37; Micah 1:8). It is also used to describe Moses’ rod that became a serpent (Exodus 7:10, 12).
Of interest are Psalm 74:13-14 and Isaiah 51:9. Psalm 74:13-14 speaks of Yahweh breaking the heads of leviathan the dragon. Isaiah 51:9 says Yahweh is the one who cut Rahab (also known as Leviathan and symbolic of Egypt) and wounded the dragon. Both these figures are likely behind John’s envisionment of the Satanic dragon in Revelation that emerged from the sea (Revelation 13:1). John often interchanged the Abyss with the sea as the sea was viewed as the remnant of the Abyss after God subdued and bounded it at creation. The emergence of this beast from the sea signals the breaking loose of the Abyss during the end-times (likely due to the boundary-breaking of sin), loosing chaos upon the world. It also links tanniyn as a sea monster, or dragon with the sea, justifying John’s symbolic equivalence (note also Job 41:1, Psalm 74:14, 89:10, 104:26 and Isaiah 27:1, 51:9).
That the LXX translates tanniyn as δράκων drakōn strengthens the tie between Leviathan (Rahab) and Satan (the dragon of Revelation 12), the source of spiritual chaos (note Revelation 13:1 in which the dragon stands on the shore of the sea and conjures a beast from the sea who will be central to the spiritual chaos in the end-time). That these great sea creatures were often envisioned by Old Testament writers as dragons lends increased force to the claim that Satan, who in Genesis 3 is envisioned as a serpent, is seen by John at the end of the age in his true character as a dragon from the Abyss. Satan is the source of all spiritual chaos, seeking to destroy Yahweh’s Messiah and covenant community (and seeking to take the Abrahamic inheritance of the earth by force). Revelation documents Satan’s attempts to unleash chaos directly upon God’s people (Revelation 12:17) and through his earthly surrogate the beast (Revelation 13:5-10). Here is where Ezekiel’s vision of restoration of Israel becomes important (Ezekiel 40-48) as it affirms that Satan’s efforts to destroy God’s new creation and His new covenant-community will fail. God will faithfully deliver His people through these difficulties.
Birds and Their Eschatological Implications
Birds were also often used symbolically to indicate the benefits powerful kingdoms of the world offer to their subjects and surrounding kingdoms (Ezekiel 31:6; Daniel 4:10-14). Powerful kingdoms of Egypt or Babylon were envisioned as tall strong trees in which birds found shade in the branches. [4] Their flight from the branches portended judgment.
As with fish, birds and winged insects were to increase abundantly, a sign of God’s creative power in the earth. Like fish, the absence or abundance of birds could portend desolating judgments or restoration of the land. There are prophetic scriptures in which the land is laid desolate, devoid of animals, men and birds, or restored with the reappearance of birds and other animals. [5] Hosea 2 contains a restorative promise associated with “that day”, (the Day of the Lord) with a promise that God will return all things back to their starting point, a point without sin, without conflict and where God’s people faithfully serve him. The promise is described by a covenant for the beasts of the field and birds of the air, suggesting Edenic restoration encompassing all lifeforms:
16 “In that day,” declares the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.’ 17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. 18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.
Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness and idolatry, Hosea assures God will save Israel and regenerate the heavens and the earth by His creative power. His promise anticipates a new creation that follows desolating judgments for sin, seen in the covenant made with the birds, an emblem of their restoration in keeping with His first creation mandate.
Birds and flying creatures were also often pictured as carrion in prophetic scriptures. The first prophetic occurrence is found in Genesis 40:16-19 where Joseph interpreted the baker’s dream, predicting his death, described as birds eating his flesh). The gruesome picture of birds eating the flesh of the dead is frequent in Old Testament prophecy though often paired with the beasts of the earth feasting on the flesh of carcasses. [8] The picture of the birds is not critical; rather their feasting upon the dead offers a picture of the death and destruction that God will allow in judgment of the disobedient. The picture is perhaps best illustrated in the prophecy of Gog in Ezekiel 39:
17 “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan. 19 At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. 20 At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind,’ declares the Sovereign Lord.
Ezekiel brings a macabre prophecy against Gog, “chief prince of Meshek and Tubal” (vs1). Yahweh brings them from the far north, sending them against “the mountains of Israel” (vs 2), where God slays them. This judgment is against “those who live in safety in the coastlands” so “they will know that I am the Lord” (vs 6) and that Yahweh makes “known my holy name among my people Israel” (vs 7). The devastation is apocalyptic, so broad that those who need firewood will be able to collect weapons to burn for seven years (vs 9) with seven months needed to cleanse the land of the dead (vs 12). When we turn to the New Testament, we see that John has borrowed from Ezekiel’s prophecy in Revelation 19:
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.” 19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
John’s focus is a rider on a white horse who is called “Faithful and True” (vs 11). He is said to judge with justice and wage war (vs 11). He is described with eyes ablaze with fire and having many crowns upon his head.[7] He wears a robe dipped in blood, “and his name is the Word of God” (vs 13). The armies of heaven followed him riding white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean (vs 14). “Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty” (vs 15) and on his robe and thigh is written “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (vs 16).
That the Rider is called Faithful and True confirms identification as Jesus. Though He is to wage war, it is not conventional warfare given that His name is the Word of God and the sword, the emblem of His warfare, proceeds from His mouth, a marker to show that He triumphs through the testimony of the Word of God. This view is enhanced by blood on His garments, emblematic of His sacrificial death as the means toward reconciliation with God. It is through testimony of His martyrdom that He is victorious. He judges with justice while his army is dressed in fine linen, white and clean, showing spiritual priestly warfare. [8] The clean, white linen garb (the priestly garb of the Day of Atonement) points to cleansing from sin. Note John’s focus upon spiritual warfare as the deepened meaning of Ezekiel’s prophecy while signaling its fulfillment, refocused upon Christ, His sacrificial death and triumph through His death.
Christ also employed the symbol of birds. In Matthew 13:4, Jesus employed birds to symbolize Satan stealing away the seed of the Gospel from the hearts of the hearers. Similarly, in Revelation 18:2, John spoke of Babylon as the source of every evil bird, hinting at unclean spirits. Here also they symbolize the spiritual opponents of God and their evil efforts to delude unbelievers. The symbolism is enhanced given birds flew in the visible heavens, a parallel with the spiritual realm of angelic powers in heaven. That the New Testament describes the principalities as being in the air, or heavens, strengthens the parallel. They are both normal “residents” of the heavens. It may also be that John considers these evil “birds” as carrion, but actively involved in bringing death to men and women through deceiving them from following Christ.
Relevance to Christians Today
While many diverse examples of birds and fishes have been examined, central to these examples is the theme of creation and new creation. One can see that later authors presented the new creation in Christ as a recapitulation of the first creation. But where the first creation’s focus was upon physical creatures in the air and sea, the focus of the second creation was upon spiritual creatures in the air and sea (heavens and Abyss). It follows the same process presented in earlier posts (see Figure 1) in which the first creation served as a model for the final spiritual creation in Christ.
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Open in new tab In the final creation, birds became emblematic of spiritual enemies in our age, particularly at the end of the age. Likewise the great sea creatures were re-envisioned in the latter creation as demonic forces in opposition to God’s redemptive plan. Like other tokens of the first creation, they have been employed to provide spiritual insight concerning God’s redemptive plan including His spiritual opponents, His judgments upon these opponents and more broadly upon all sin (e.g. Babylon). The intended lesson is that God’s opponents seek to rid the earth of its true Abrahamic heirs (God’s people) and take by force their Abrahamic inheritance. They work to stymie God’s new creation chiefly by destroying both God’s people and the earth.
It was also noted earlier that the earth seems to be partitioned as a mirror image of God’s creation “in mini” with three “spaces”, the heavens (the visible sky), the land (earth) and the sea (the deep). This partitioning is in evidence in Isaiah’s envisionment of Egypt as Rahab (Isaiah 51:9; cf. Job 26:12; Psalm 89:10; Isaiah 30:7), Leviathan as a sea monster/dragon (Isaiah 27:1; cf. Job 3:8; Psalm 74:14) and also in the birds that steal away the Gospel seed (Matthew 13:4, 19). It paves the way for John in Revelation to speak of our ultimate enemies as evil spirits intent on bringing chaos from the deep/Abyss – sea monsters (Revelation 9:1-11; 11:17:8) and Babylon as the haunt of evil “birds”(Revelation 18:2). Important to John is that “chaos” is lawlessness. Those who seek our destruction are lawless, refusing to follow God’s laws and intent upon teaching that it is acceptable within the church to disobey God’s laws. Despite the severe persecutions and deceptions brought by these enemies of God, John (like Ezekiel) assures that Christ will be triumphant, delivering His people and restoring them to an Edenic-like land (Revelation 22:1-2). The faithful will receive their promised Abrahamic inheritance.
That the earth mirrors God’s greater (invisible) creation proves important. While our enemies may appear to be men, they have the backing of powerful demonic forces. The battles these men wage appear to be visible battles on earth, but they portend greater unseen spiritual battles in God’s greater creation. John makes this truth clear in his portrayal of the beasts from the sea (abyss) and his description of the evil spirits that animate “Babylon”. Babylon is thus not a literal place but a state intent upon evil. John also makes clear that God’s people are participants in these battles and requiredto give testimony of the resurrected Christ. This testimony brings the nations to salvation, saving many from eternal damnation.
Also, Israel’s fruitfulness brought enslavement as Egyptians feared their numbers. It may portend that at the end of the age, God’s spiritual opponents fear the church who by that time have filled the earth with righteous disciples of Christ. Their combined spiritual power through the infilling of the Spirit may represent a threat to Satan’s plans to seize the earth for himself. John certainly warns that many Christians will go into captivity to a new eschatological Babylon (see Revelation 13:7, 10) from which they, like Israel, must exodus (Revelation 18:4). Thus, it appears that John has structured his prophetic warnings as a recapitulation from Israel’s history. Recognition of these recapitulated patterns is essential to proper understanding of end-time prophecy.
Finally, unexpectedly we see animals God created representing enemies of man. It is unexpected given that man was given charge over the animals, saying, “rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28b). It portends a deeper meaning for the second creation. While man was to subdue the animals in the first creation, in the second creation he was also to take dominion over the earth and subdue spiritual powers symbolized as animals or beasts (see Genesis 1:28a). John’s indictment of Babylon as the “dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal” (Revelation 18:2) not only affirms it, but his two-fold mention of “unclean” birds/animals reveals the true meaning of clean and unclean animals that were introduced before the flood (Genesis 7:2) and detailed in the Sinaic covenant (Leviticus 11). The prohibition on these animals seems to anticipate their representation as evil spirits (it certainly seems to be John’s perspective). It is these unclean, evil spirits that Christians are to subdue as part of taking dominion over the earth. Note the linking of subduing these creatures with taking dominion of the earth. Central to Christian living is taking dominion of the earth as it is the place created for man, the place he surrendered to Satan when Adam failed his probationary test in the garden. It is not simply that God has promised to restore us and restore us to the land (the earth). We are participants in the war against God’s spiritual opponents, subduing them and taking back the earth.
[1] John’s employment of frogs as unclean spirits is consistent with direct parallels he takes pain to make with the Egyptian plagues and his view of the Nile as an overflowing, flooding river of chaos that modeled the watery chaos tehowm, the Abyss, considered by John to be the place of captivity of the unclean spirits (see also 1 Peter 3:19-20).
[2] For additional details on the significance of the use of frogs in Revelation including other Jewish writings on the Exodus plague of frogs, see Beale, G. K., The Book of Revelation, A Commentary on the Greek Text, Grand Rapids MI, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999, p. 831-834
[3] This argument may surprise some but note that these people come from the other side of the Euphrates, which may be significant given that the name Eber means “other side”, as in other side of the Euphrates. Is it possible that a false exodus and false eisodus is depicted here by a false “Eber”? For the meaning of Eber, see Miller, Madeleine S. and J. Lane, Harper’s Bible Dictionary, New York, NY, Harper & Brothers, 1961, p. 147
[4] Note the same symbolism is taken up by Jesus in Matthew 13:31-32 (cf. Mark 4:32; Luke 13:19) of birds nesting in the branches of the mustard tree.
[5] Hosea 4:3 intimates the destruction of living things including birds because of Israel’s sins (so also Jeremiah 9:10-11; 12:4). Jeremiah 4:25 states “there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away,” intimating desolation (just as abundance of birds infers restoration of the land (Psalm 104:17; Ezekiel 17:23). Zephaniah 1:2-3 predicts destruction of all lifeforms in judgment including birds.
[6] Note Jeremiah 7:33; 15:3; 16:4; 19:7; 34:20; Ezekiel 29:5; 32:4; 39:4. This picture is adopted by John in Revelation 19:17-21 in describing the culmination of the conflict between the forces of Christ and those of the Antichrist. The feasting implies the dead are left unburied, pointing possibly to humiliation in judgment of their shameful lives, exposed for all to see.
[7] There is an interesting contrast between the beast with seven heads and ten horns and Christ with one head yet many crowns. This contrast likely is designed to differentiate between the true and false Messiah (see also the description of Christ in Revelation 5 as a lamb slain, with seven eyes and seven horns, again in contrast to the beast.
[8] Fine linen was often associated with the priesthood (see Exodus 28:6, 8, 15, 39-42; 39:2-8, 24-;29; Leviticus 6:10; 16:4, 23, 32; 1 Samuel 22:18; Ezzekiel 44:17-18). Strong’s describes the fine linen (בּוּץ buwts) as white, suggestive that fine linen associated with the priesthood was white unless specified as dyed to color (see 2 Chronicles 5:12 where the AV describes the linen the Levites wore as white). That linen was the traditional garb of priests gives significance to Pharaoh’s action to clothe Joseph in fine linen (Genesis 41:42). Fine linen was also associated with the tabernacle, the place where priests met with God, though the curtains of fine linen were typically dyed (Exodus 26:1, 31, 36; 27:9, 16, 18; 35:6, 23, 25, 35; 36:8, 37; 38:9, 16-18). Noteworthy is Ezekiel 9-10 where the scene is the temple in heaven and the one with the inkhorn is wearing fine linen, suggestive he serves in a priestly role before the throne of God (see also Daniel 10:5; 12:6-7). In Revelation 15:6 in which John envisions the temple, with angels coming out from the temple that are wearing white linen, again suggestive that their roles are priestly.