We examine the lyrics of the track from Metallica‘s 1984 album Ride the Lightning, verse by verse.
while listening to creeping death I discovered this feature that I had never discovered before. once again I experienced that Metallica is a band that is always open to discovery.
The biblically referenced relationship between Moses and pharaoh is woven throughout creeping death.
creeping death, which gives the song its title, is none other than the disasters and wraths sent by god to warn the pharaoh. according to the bible, ten different wraths were sent by god to ancient Egypt. let’s analyze the song section by section to see the feature of Metallica I mentioned above:
“slaves, hebrews born to serve. to the pharaoh
faith, of the unknown one. the deliverer. wait, something must be done. four hundred years”
The Israelites were slaves to Pharaoh for 400 years. they never saw the light of day. the one referred to in the above passage as “the unknown one” and “the deliverer” is Moses. that is, the one who was chosen to deliver the Israelites from bondage.
“now, let my people go. land of goshen. go, i will be with thee. bush of fire”
in this part of the song, musa explicitly warns pharaoh to release his people (the israelites). goshen is the name of the region where the israelites live. “bush of fire” is a reference to Moses talking to god on the mountain (not sure if the bible mentions mount tur). through a burning bush, Moses communicates with god.
“blood, running red and strong. down the nile. plague, darkness three days long. hail to fire”
the river Nile flowing red because of the blood on it is the first chastisement mentioned in the Bible. three days of darkness is the ninth. hail in the form of fireballs is the seventh wrath sent by God.
“i, rule the midnight air. the destroyer. born, i shall soon be there deadly mass”
here there is not as clear a reference as in other parts of the song. but the angel of death is probably coming very soon, reinforcing the meaning of death and torment in the song.
“blood, lamb’s blood painted door. i shall pass”
the tenth wrath in the bible. the information that the angel of death will kill the first born male children in egypt (to kill the first born pharaoh son) is repeated throughout the song. the innocent Israelites are commanded to mark or paint their doors with the blood of the lamb, so that the angel of death will realize that there is an innocent Israelite behind that door and move on to another door to continue his mission of taking life. we infer this through these words:
“die by my hand, i creep across the land, killing first-born man”
the grim reaper makes it clear that he has come to take the lives of all the firstborn boys in pharaoh’s country. the fact that he has been given this task by the chosen one is conveyed to the listeners throughout the song through “i am sent here by the chosen one”.
a song I listened to encouraged me to do research. I became aware of the wrath of god mentioned in the bible. even a standard activity of listening to a song turned into an action that increased my knowledge and culture.
