The Breath That Draws from the Deep

There is a word in the holy tongue that appears but once in all of Scripture—a single, fleeting utterance that carries the weight of eternity. The word is ʿâlaʿ, a primitive root that means to sip up, to drink in, to draw something into yourself as a thirsty man draws water from a stream. It appears only one time in the Tanakh, yet its singularity speaks volumes. For when a word is used only once, the sages teach, it often carries a mystery meant for those who search the depths. This is not the gulp of the glutton nor the casual sip of the distracted—this is the deliberate, reverent act of taking something sacred into your very being.

The First Occurrence: When God Himself Sips

The first time this action appears in Scripture, it is not performed by a prophet or a priest, but by the Holy One Himself. In Job 39:30, we read of the eagle and her young: "Her young ones also suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is she." The verb used here is ʿâlaʿ—the eaglets sip up the lifeblood of the prey. But the rabbis of old observed something deeper: this image is a shadow of divine justice. The eagle, in ancient Hebrew thought, is a creature of the heights, dwelling near the heavens, and her young are fed by what she brings from the slaughter below. So too does the Lord bring life from death, drawing His sustenance—if one may speak reverently—from the covenant faithfulness of His people. The stem is Qal, the simple active voice, indicating this is not a forced or ceremonial action but a natural, instinctive drawing near. God does not sip up blood; He sips up the prayers of the broken, the tears of the repentant, the breath of the faithful. And where the slain are—where sin has done its work—there He is, drawing life from the place of death.

The Contrast: Divine Sipping and Human Sipping

When humans perform this action, it is often in the context of judgment or desperation. The sages teach that the act of sipping, in its Hebrew root, carries the connotation of a hidden intimacy—a secret exchange between the one who drinks and the one who gives. In the Tabernacle, the priests did not sip the blood of sacrifices; they sprinkled it, poured it, applied it to the altar. But the verb ʿâlaʿ suggests a mouth-to-source connection, a drawing from the very wellspring. This is why the rabbis of old connected this word to the act of studying Torah: one does not merely read the words, but sips them, draws them into the soul, letting them become part of the body's own substance. When God sips, He takes what is pure and makes it His own. When humans sip, they must be careful what they draw in—for the blood of the slain, if taken without reverence, brings death rather than life.

The Covenant Context: Sipping as Obedience

The covenant between God and Israel is often described in terms of eating and drinking. At Sinai, the elders of Israel saw God and ate and drank (Exodus 24:11). But the word ʿâlaʿ is not used there—it is reserved for a more intimate act. The one place this verb appears is in the context of the eagle's young, and the connection to covenant is this: the eagle is a symbol of God's own care for Israel. "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself" (Exodus 19:4). The eaglets sip from the mother's provision; so too does Israel sip from the provision of the Lord. Yet the failure of the covenant is when Israel refuses to sip from the living waters. Jeremiah cries out, "For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13). To sip from God is to trust Him for your very life. To refuse is to dry up from within.

The Gematria of 170: The Number of Hidden Blessing

The gematria of ʿâlaʿ is 170, a number that the ancient sages connected to the concept of hidden blessing. The word sod, meaning secret or council, has a value of 70, and when multiplied by the number of completeness (10), you arrive at 700—but 170 is something else. It is the value of the word maʿyan, a spring or fountain. The rabbis of old observed that a spring does not force its way out; it bubbles up gently, and one must stoop to sip from it. So too with the word ʿâlaʿ: it is the act of bending low to receive what is freely given. The number 170 also appears in the phrase "the good land" (Deuteronomy 8:7), for the land of Israel is described as a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills. To sip from these waters is to receive the inheritance of the covenant. The number whispers that this act is not one of grasping but of receiving—a quiet, humble drawing near to the source of all life.

Messianic Fulfillment: Yeshua, the One Who Sips and Gives

How does this single-use word find its fulfillment in the Messiah? Yeshua, as He hung upon the tree, cried out, "I thirst" (John 19:28). They offered Him sour wine on a hyssop branch, and He received it—He sipped it. In that moment, the word ʿâlaʿ becomes manifest. The Messiah, the true Eagle who bears His young on His wings, sips the bitter cup of human suffering. But He does not sip for Himself alone. On the night He was betrayed, He took the cup and said, "Drink from it, all of you" (Matthew 26:27). He is the fountain that gives living water, and those who come to Him are called to sip—not to gulp in greed, but to sip in faith. The apostolic tradition teaches that the blood of the covenant is not to be consumed as the pagans consume their sacrifices, but to be sipped as a holy communion, a drawing near to the very life of God. Yeshua fulfilled the image of the eaglets sipping blood: He gave His own blood, and those who sip it in faith receive life from the slain One. Where the slain are, there He is—and there we are called to draw near.

The Call to Sip: Your Invitation to Draw Near

You have been given this word, this rare and hidden treasure, as an invitation. The Holy One does not force His living water down your throat; He offers it, and you must stoop to sip. The rabbis of old taught that Torah is like water—it seeks the lowest places, for water always flows downhill. To sip from the living God, you must humble yourself, bend low, and open your mouth like the eaglet in the nest. You may think you have no thirst, or that you are too full of the world's waters, but the word ʿâlaʿ calls you to a new kind of hunger. Let the single appearance of this verb in Scripture be a sign to you: one act of sipping, done with faith, can sustain you through the wilderness. Do not gulp down the world's false promises. Instead, draw near to the fountain that never runs dry. Sip once, and you will thirst for more. Sip again, and you will find that you have been sipped into the life of God Himself. Come, bend low, and drink.