Hebrew Word Study – Breaking Camp – Yisar   Yod Samek Resh

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Exodus 14:19-20 “And the angel of God which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them. And the pillar of cloud went from before their face and stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these so that no one came not near the other all the night.”

Now let me get this straight, the children of Israel were on the march to the promised land when the Egyptians come riding up behind them.  We learn that the angel of God was in front of the children of Israel.  When the Egyptians road up the angel of the Lord removed himself from the lead position and went behind the children of Israel as well as the cloud and darkness came to the Egyptians.  He gave light by night to Israel and no one came near the other all night.  

In the Hebrew the angel of God was doing more than going before the camp of Israel, it was yisa’ before the camp of Israel.  This is from the root word nasa’ which means to lift up and in this context to break camp. The Masoretic text (about 700 years after the birth of Christ) uses a Qirik under the nun which puts it in a Qal form.  However, it would make more sense to use a pathah under the nun which would put it into a Hiphil form. This would even be more so as both forms are in an imperfect tense.  This would give a rendering of “The angel of the God was preparing to break camp.”  Note the passage says that the Angel of the God went before the camp of Israel.  The word camp is chanah which is an encampment, a place of rest. This was always done on the Sabbath.    

Apparently, the children of Israel had reached the Red Sea and set up camp.  Now the Angel of the God was preparing them to move forward when the Egyptian army arrived.  The angel of God moves in between the Egyptians and the children of Israel and creates a barrier of light and darkness.  But soft, the angel of God is also manifested as a cloud.   The word cloud in Hebrew is ‘anana which means a cloud.  Look it up in any lexicon, it will tell you it means cloud.  What is a cloud? It is gas or moisture that is evaporating.  Surely this angel of God which many, myself, included believes was a manifestation of God Himself or of Jesus Christ,  is more than just evaporating moisture or a gas. In searching through Jewish literature, I ran across a better definition for ‘anana’. The double nun preceded by an ayin would define this word as “flowing currents of life.”   That is what I call a good description of the presence of God.  This barrier between the Egyptians and the Children of Israel was one that manifested flowing currents of life to Israel and darkness to the Egyptians.  

It is interesting that the angel of God and the flowing currents of life and the yisa went behind Israel.  Originally, yisa’ went before Israel.  There is a double meaning to yisa, which not only means to break camp, but it also has the idea of creating a shelter by blinding the enemy.  We note that the cloud gave light to Israel but darkness to the Egyptians.  It is very possible that the currents of life that flowed was the light of God which protected and where the flowing currents of life did not flow, the light caused blindness.  Could this have been the same light that Paul saw on the road to Damascus which struck him blind?   This would surely explain why the Egyptians did not attack the nation of Israel.  The darkness they were in was a physical blindned.

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