Scripture Daily

Context No. 914 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 15:22-27: in context

22Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. 23When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah. 24The people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25Then he cried to the LORD. The LORD showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them. 26He said, “If you will diligently listen to the LORD your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.” 27They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They encamped there by the waters.

Only three days after the triumph at the Red Sea, Israel is already in trouble. They have gone into the wilderness of Shur and found no water, and when they finally reach Marah the water there is too bitter to drink. The people grumble against Moses. Moses cries to the LORD, who shows him a tree; he throws it into the water and it becomes sweet. There God makes a promise, that if they listen to him he will not put the diseases of Egypt on them, for he is the LORD who heals them. Then they come to Elim, with twelve springs and seventy palms, and camp by the water.

The timing is the lesson. Three days. The same people who had just sung the song of the sea, who had watched the water stand up in walls and Pharaoh's army drown, are complaining about a lack of water before the song is cold. It is easy to judge them until you notice how quickly your own gratitude curdles when the next hardship comes. And notice how God responds to the grumbling, not with punishment but with a tree cast into the bitter water to make it sweet, and a new name for himself, the LORD who heals you. He also calls Marah a test: bitter water is where he teaches them whether they will trust him between the miracles. Then, just past the bitter place, lies Elim with its twelve springs and seventy palms, abundance waiting a little further down the road. Marah was not the destination; it was the stretch of trust between the sea and the springs.

I am probably only a few days past some clear mercy of God. When the next bitter water comes, will I cry out to him, or grumble as if the mercy never happened?

Sources