Sank as Lead

This is the entrance to the Bishop’s Wood Fish Mine in north Wales overlooking Prestatyn. Despite the name, it was where lead was mined, not fish, wood or bishops. Opened in 1725 by the London Lead Mining Company, several tons were extracted but it was rarely deemed profitable.

Moses sings in the fifteenth of Exodus:

The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (vv9-11)

Pharaoh’s army, in the hope of providing additional employment prospects to their liberated slave labour force, decided to take on the might of Israel’s God. This resulted in great loss, their ‘sinking as lead’. The people of God shall ascend to the heavens, but those who oppose them shall sink to the depths.

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