God’s Wisdom in the Waters of the Deep (ABZU)
Genesis 1:2-3 figuratively depicts God creating the source of the “water of Life”. The darkness over the waters of the deep — signifying the ignorance of earthly wisdom — was dispelled and replaced by the light of God’s wisdom when God commanded, “Let there be light,” over the dark waters. Once this vast sea was filled with the light of God’s wisdom, the waters of the deep became the Sumerian ABZU, a cosmic sea of the Father’s wisdom:
ab-zu = “sea of wisdom”
ab-zu = “wisdom of the father”
A basin representing this cosmic sea of wisdom was traditionally positioned outside of Mesopotamian temples, just as it appears in the depiction of the Cosmic Temple of Genesis 1. This basin was a metaphorical representation of the freshwater sea of God’s wisdom and the “water of life” — the living water filled with heavenly wisdom that flows through Eden and the rest of Scripture (Eden = “water of life”, Proverbs 13:14; Psalm 36:9, John 4:6-14, Revelation 22:1).
This is also why the wisdom that comes from God is consistently depicted as the overflowing abundant waters of life — they flow from the sea of the Father’s wisdom. God’s wisdom teaches people how to love God and one another in a way that leads to abundant life in both this world of mortality and the afterlife of heavenly bliss.
God’s wisdom also teaches people how to avoid sin which ultimately leads to relational separation from God in both this life and the afterlife. The Jewish worldview metaphorically describes this separation from God as “death”. For example, God’s wisdom is compared to a fountain of life that protects people from relational death in Proverbs:
“The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,
turning a person from the snares of death.” (Proverbs 13:14)
We also see the association of God’s wisdom with a fountain of life and light in Psalms:
“For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.” (Psalm 36:9)
When Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, he described the wisdom of God that he was sharing as “living water". He compared it to a spring of water that leads to eternal life for those who drink it in and make it a part of themselves:
“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. […] Everyone who drinks this water [from the well] will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:10, 13-14)
These waters of life that flow through Scripture appear to have been formed in the opening lines of Genesis when God created the cosmic freshwater sea of his wisdom. As mentioned, this was known as the ABZU in the ancient Mesopotamian world and was originally associated with the wisdom of the Father of Heaven. The ABZU also referred to a tank of holy water found in temple courtyards, which may explain why the basin for the priests’ ritual washing in the temple of Solomon was referred to as the “Sea” in 1 Kings 7:23-26 and 2 Chronicles 4:2-6. Likewise, this Sea is also depicted at the beginning of Genesis along with the Cosmic Temple.
The water of life flows all the way from Genesis into the last book of the Bible: Revelation. In the time of the new heaven and new earth, the water of life will continue to flow from the throne of God and the Lamb:
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city.” (Revelation 22:1)
At that time God will dwell among his people as he wipes every tear from their eyes (Revelation 21:3-4), so the cosmic sea of God’s wisdom [ABZU] will no longer be necessary because God’s people will then hear wisdom directly from the mouth of the Father:
“Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.” (Revelation 21:1)
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