Exodus 15

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:30:51utc

The opening words of this chapter: "Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD," would indicate that Moses is the composer of this hymn. It is the first great hymn in the Bible, although not the first sample of poetry. The first preserved example is Lamech's song of revenge.[ 1 ] Next to this we have the much more lofty blessing Jacob pronounced over his sons in Gen. 49. Lamech may have sung his abusive poem, but it is doubtful that Jacob's words were put to music. Moses' song leaves not doubt about the music or instrumentation. We may even say that it is the first specimen of a ballet in the Bible and probably in world literature.

In our Western, eclectic, world poetry and song are rarely spontaneous. Songs, "Lieder," Opera and Oratorio are usually the fruit of arduous word and time consuming labour. In a certain way literacy clutters the mind and does some damage to the brain. In my experience with primitive, illiterate tribes in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, I have noticed that these people have a much sharper memory for words than do the readers of the Western world. They also have a much more developed gift of spontaneous poetry than we do. The mountain tribes we worked with could rise to any occasion and improvise chants and songs.

If we, therefore, doubt that Moses and the Israelites could have burst out spontaneously into a song like this hymn, we judge the situation from a world that is centuries removed from the facts. I believe that the Song of Moses was composed at the spur of the moment and performed without any rehearsal.

And, if we consider the fact that the Lord was present and the Holy Spirit was at work, we can say that Moses' song was inspired in the highest sense of the word.

Poetry expresses reality to the core. It takes the facts and builds them into monuments. It places time in the light of eternity and reveals the true meaning of things and events. That is why the symbolism of the book of Revelation is poetry in its highest form. All real poetry is revelation, and real revelation is poetry.

The song of Moses is incorporated in the song of the Lamb,[ 2 ] as Revelations tells us, and thus it is preserved throughout eternity.

The Pulpit Commentary gives the following interesting division of Moses' song: "The song divides itself primarily into two parts: - the first (vers. 1 - 12) retrospective, celebrating the recent deliverance; the second (verse. 13 - 18) prospective, describing the effects that would flow from the deliverance in future time. The verbs indeed of the second part are at first grammatical preterits; but (as Kalisch observes) they are 'according to the sense, futures' - their past form denoting only that the prophet sees the events revealed to him as though they were already accomplished. Hence, after a time, he slides into the future (vs. 16). The second part is continuous, and has no marked break: the first sub-divides into three unequal portions, each commencing with an address to Jehovah, and each terminating with a statement of the great fact, that the Egyptians were swallowed up. These three portions are: 1. verse. 2 - 5, 'The Lord is my strength,' to 'They sank into the bottom as a stone.' 2. verse. 6 - 10, 'Thy right hand, o Lord,' to 'They sank like lead in to mighty waters.' 3. verse. 11 - 12, 'Who is like unto Thee, O Lord,' to 'the earth swallowed them.' The first verse stands separate from the whole, as an introduction, and at the same time as the refrain. Moses and a chorus of men commenced their chant with it, and probably proceeded to the end of vs. 5, when Miriam, with the Hebrew women, interposed with a repetition of the refrain (see vs. 21). The chant of the males was resumed and carried to the close of vs. 10, when again the refrain came in. It was further repeated after vs. 12; and once more at the close of the whole 'song.' Similar refrains, or burdens are found in Egyptian melodies."

Vs. 1 states the theme and refrain, as The Pulpit Commentary remarks. The victory over the Egyptian army was obviously the Lord's doing. Moses had announced already in ch. 14:14 the battle was the Lord's; all Israel had to do was to be quiet.

The song is dedicated to the Lord. We read: "Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD." The NIV reads: "I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted." The KJV and RSV translate it with: "He hath triumphed gloriously." Literally the text says: "He is gloriously glorious." The NIV is more correct, but since the context of the song is victory over the enemy I prefer the way the KJV renders it. "I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea" (vs. 1). The hymn is put in the first person, as if the whole drama was a personal experience for Moses, or as if it was only Moses' experience that was important. In a certain way this was true. Paul puts it this way in First Corinthians, where he says: "For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea."[ 3 ] Not only did God look upon the whole people of Israel as one body, one person, but He treated them as one person in Moses. What happened to Moses, happened to the nation. Obviously, the picture points to Jesus Christ and to our relationship with God in Him. God considers that we died and rose, because He died and rose. We are accepted by God through Him.

In the same way are those who are lost, wrapped up in one man: "The horse and its rider ..." It is again the apostle Paul who understood this better than any of the writers in the Bible: "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned .…"[ 4 ] God knows only two men: Christ and Adam. The whole of humanity is represented by those two. Adam was the first man of the old creation that fell; Christ was the last Adam and the first man of the new creation.

Adam Clarke remarks correctly: "And when it is considered that the whole of this transaction shadowed out the redemption of the human race from the thralldom and power of sin and iniquity by the Lord Jesus, and the final triumph of the Church of God over all its enemies, we may also join in the song and celebrate Him who triumphed so gloriously, having conquered death and opened the kingdom of Heaven to all believers."

At the end of the Bible, we find evil personified again in a horse and its rider, portraying the Antichrist. In Revelation John says: "I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest."[ 5 ] This man is hurled here into the sea. God's wrath reveals itself at last. For an extended period of time God had been very patient with Pharaoh, the man who had asked the question: "Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go." (ch. 5:2) God had shown His patience in dealing with Pharaoh, as we saw in ch. 9:15-17, where God tells the king: "For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go." God takes Pharaoh with his horse, his whole army, and all the chariots, and hurls him into the sea. The Egyptians did not just drown; they were cast into a boiling pot of churning water, twisted around by a tornado, while peals of thunder and bolts of lightning crashed around them. This day of wrath came with an awesome display of divine power.

Vs. 2 expresses in a rich and poetical way different aspects of our relationship with God. Literally it says: "My strength is Jah ... He has been to me for salvation, .… I will build him a sanctuary."

This is the first time the name "Jah" occurs in the Bible. The Pulpit Commentary considers it to be an abbreviation of the name Jahweh. But Adam Clarke is of the opinion that it is a name with a meaning of its own. He says: "It is worthy of observation that the word which we translate Lord here is not Jehovah in the original, but Jah. Jah is several times joined with the name Jehovah, so that we may be sure that it is not, as some have supposed, a mere abbreviation of that word. See Isa. xii. 2; xxvi. 4." Then he goes on to explain that this is the name Jesus used in John 8:58 when He said: "Before Abraham was born, I am!" David uses the same thoughts and words as Moses in the Psalms: "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"[ 6 ] Moses recognizes that it is the Lord who gained the victory over the Egyptians, but in calling the Lord "my strength" he makes the Lord's victory his own. "The Lord is my strength" is, at the same time, an admission of our own weakness and a claiming of His victory for ourselves. Salvation does not merely mean that we escaped the power of the enemy, but that we are victors over him. Or, as Paul puts it: "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."[ 7 ]

Calling the Lord "our song" also means more than that we praise Him with our songs. It implies that we have no song in ourselves. If "Jah" stands for the person of Jesus Christ, it means that He is our means of praise before the throne of God. His sacrifice for us becomes our sacrifice of praise for God. Three of the five sacrifices prescribed in the first chapters of Leviticus were sacrifices of praise. They had nothing to do with sin that had to be atoned for. Yet, all the sacrifices in the Old Testament portrayed the death of Jesus on the cross. Evidently, He died not only to pay for our transgressions (and He did not only take our place in God's judgment over the human race), but He also, and foremost, became our praise before God. Our depravity becomes nowhere clearer than in the fact that we have nothing in ourselves to praise God, but at the same time it is the glory of our humanity that we praise Him with the highest gift that exists. Even angels do not have this gift. Our praise before the throne is richer than that of any other creature in heaven.

Just as with the song, where God is not just the theme to be sung or the content of the song but the song itself, so with salvation. Moses, and Israel with him, sing: "He has become my salvation." God does not merely save or give salvation. Salvation is not a thing but a Person. Our status of being saved cannot be detached from the Person of God. Albert B. Simpson discovered this principle and expressed it in his hymn: "Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord." Just as in a marriage all the material and emotional benefits for either spouse are part of the union between two persons, so it is with our fellowship with God. Paul says this also: "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God; that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption."[ 8 ]

"He is my God" is a matter of choice; "my father's God" is a matter of heritage. Without the personal choice and the surrender that is implied in this the heritage would be useless. The personal choice makes the heritage the richer. In using the words "my father's God" Moses refers evidently to God's revelation to him at the burning bush. God had said to him: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob" (ch. 3:6).

The phrase "I will build Him a sanctuary" has baffled commentators. Some believe it refers to the coming encounter on Mount Sinai and the subsequent construction of the tabernacle, or even to the building of the temple when the people arrive in Canaan. The NIV and RSV circumvent the problem with the translation "I will exalt Him." There seems to be some question about the text. The Septuagint has "I will glorify Him"; at this place and several other old translations concur with this. There is no reason, though, for not taking this phrase literally. We should not forget that the choice of words is ultimately up to the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit of God knows that the only way to exalt God is to become God's dwelling place. The tabernacle and the temple were only outward expressions of a spiritual reality. Jesus says to the Samaritan woman: "A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ... Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."[ 9 ] And several times the apostle Paul emphasizes that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.[ 10 ]

But before we can build God a house with our lives, He has to build us one. This He did when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That is why God says to David, when David wanted to build the temple: "The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you."[ 11 ]

"The Lord is a warrior." This phrase is not a designation of God's character. When Gideon meets the Lord and receives his call to defeat the Midianites and Amalekites, he builds an altar which he calls "the LORD is peace."[ 12 ] The designation of God as a warrior does not drag God down into the realm of human strife either; however, it does mean, , that God resists attacks upon His glory and holiness.

Satan had insulted God through Pharaoh, and God's response to this taunt was that He had hurled the horse and its rider into the sea. But this does not put God on the same level as the enemy. God's power can never be compared to any human manifestation of power. It is ridiculous when people talk about the United States of America as "the strongest nation on earth," or when we try to compare the strength of arms with the omnipotence of God. A nuclear explosion may wipe out part of mankind and of our planet, yet, next to the Word that created heaven and earth, it is like a "puff."

Isaiah says: "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?' Says the Holy One. 'Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.' "[ 13 ] "The LORD is a warrior" is an understatement.

But Moses does not simply say that the Lord is a warrior; he connects this designation to the Name of God: LORD, Jehovah, YHWH. God is Israel's protection against the power that wants to destroy her. The cloud and column of fire were an impenetrable shield. God's people are beyond the reach of the gates of hell. When William of Orange was asked on whom he counted for assistance in the struggle of the Netherlands against the army of the king of Spain, he answered: "I have made an alliance with the Potentate of all potentates." To this faith treaty Holland owes its independence till this very day.

Vs. 4 and 5 work out the theme of the hymn further: "The horse and his rider he has hurled into the sea" becomes "Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh's officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone." This is the reaction of the Warrior to the aggression of the enemy. The tornado picked up the whole army and dropped them like a brick.

If The Pulpit Commentary is correct, it is at this point that the women join the praise under the direction of Miriam. They add to the hymn by introducing tambourines and dance. Vs. 20 tells us "Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing." Only four women in the Old Testament are called "prophetess": Miriam, Deborah, Huldah and the wife of the prophet Isaiah. We find no other utterances by Miriam, that would qualify as prophecy, besides in these verses. The implication seems to be that she was, at least in part, responsible for the composition of this hymn, and since here words are practically identical to what Moses and the men sang, it could be that she was the actual author. This is not the place to elaborate on the theme of "women in the ministry" but it is obvious that there is a place for women in the ministry. Often women carry the heavier burden in the functioning of the body of Christ.

Being a prophet or a prophetess means that the Holy Spirit is at work in the life of the person and that he or she becomes a vehicle of the Word of God. Miriam may not have been consistent in her fellowship with the Lord, as is understood from her criticism of Moses,[ 14 ] but she played a vital role in this history of revelation. She was crucial in getting her little baby brother introduced to Pharaoh's daughter and in the arrangement of having him nursed by his own mother. Moses would never have become what he was without his older sister. Here she is, taking seemingly a second place, but probably playing the key role in the victory celebration.

This is the first time in the Bible that music and dance are introduced in the worship of God. They were probably part of the heathen celebrations in Egypt. Miriam teaches us that fellowship with God involves the whole person: body, soul and spirit. Miriam found a more excellent way to express the joy of victory than anybody else in Israel.

The verses 6 -10 give us the second stanza of the hymn. The thoughts are parallel to the first verses, but they are repeated poetically, with small changes and additions. The emphasis is on the right hand of God and on His breath, that is the hurricane or tornado that pushed the water up and later back.

The right hand of God is symbolic for His omnipotence, specifically in connection with redemption. This is, of course, an anthropomorphism, which is used here for the first time in the Bible. God does not need hands to do things as humans do. The image conveys the idea that, as a man uses his right hand to perform acts that require strength, so God shows His strength in the deliverance of His people. No offense is meant to left handed people here. As I am writing this I am drinking coffee from a mug with the inscription: "If the Right side of the body is controlled by the Left side of the brain, & the Left side of the body is controlled by the Right side of the brain, the LEFT HANDED people are the only ones in their RIGHT MINDS!!!" This is not the place to elaborate upon this century-old controversy and the jokes that are made about it. The discovery that left-handedness is not a handicap is only a recent one. Since the majority of people is right handed, this has been considered the normal thing for ages. Well, God is neither right or left handed; He is just omnipotent.

God's right hand is the same hand that is mentioned in ch. 13:3,9 where we read: "Then Moses said to the people, 'Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast.' " "This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand."

There are at least sixteen references to the right hand of God in the book of Psalms, all in connection with God's power to save. It has been said that the work of creation is attributed to the finger of God, as in the verse: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place ...."[ 15 ] but the image used to describe salvation is "the right hand of God."

One of the most beautiful references to the miracle of the exodus is found in Isaiah: "Then his people recalled the days of old, the days of Moses and his people; where is he who brought them through the sea, with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them, Who sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses' right hand, who divided the waters before them, to gain for himself everlasting renown, Who led them through the depths? Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble; Like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the LORD. This is how you guided your people to make for yourself a glorious name."[ 16 ]

What happened at the crossing of the Red Sea is an image of the Day of Wrath which is to come at the end of time. The apostle John received a glimpse of this when he describes the day of judgment. In Revelations we read: "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them."[ 17 ] At that point too men and angels are thrown into "the lake of fire," which is called: "the second death."

Whether the boast of the enemy, as described in vs. 9, is really what the Egyptians thought or planned to do with Israel, or whether this expresses the fear of the Israelites, is not clear. It is doubtful, as we mentioned before, that the Egyptians would have massacred the Israelites. What they wanted was live slaves, not dead bodies.

Another element is introduced in vs. 7. Besides the water and the wind there is the fire of God's wrath which burns up the enemy like stubble. The image is a very vivid one, especially for people who had to work with straw to make bricks. Both the straw and the brick are present in this song. Throughout the years of their slave labor the Israelites may have held the bricks in their hands and, at some occasions, hurled them to the ground in their frustration. Here they see God hurl and crush the bricks He made. The people must have realized how much God had shared their anger and frustrations.

In this third stanza, (vs. 11,12) which was probably preceded again by the repetition of the refrain by the women, Moses makes a comparison between God and other gods. This is the first time we find this thought in the Bible. Beginning here, it runs as a long thread through Israel's history, culminating in the beautiful and powerful language of the prophet Isaiah: "'To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?' Says the Holy One."[ 18 ] The judgment over the gods of Egypt, as announced in ch. 12:12, is completed here. Satan was made to understand at this point what was in store for him at the end of time.

Vs. 12 says: "You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them." If this is literally what happened, the storm and flood must have been accompanied by an earthquake. But since we read in ch. 14:30, "and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore," "The earth swallowed them" could be just a poetical way of describing the drowning. Or part of the army disappeared below the chasms of the earth during the quake, and the lighter part that did not wear metal harnesses was washed ashore.

The verses 13 - 18 comprise the second part of the ode. It describes prophetically the effect the recent events will have upon the nations, both in a positive and in a negative sense.

The stanza starts with the phrase "unfailing love," or, as the KJV translates is, "mercy," and the RSV "steadfast love." This is the hesed, the content of the covenant God made with His people. It is the essence of the relationship that is legally binding. God's deliverance of Israel out of Egypt and their resurrection from the dead, symbolized in the passing through the Red Sea, is part of God's covenant.

We have to remember that Israel was not saved and rehabilitated for her own benefit only. An important part of God's covenant with Abraham, maybe the most important part, was: "All peoples on earth will be blessed through you."[ 19 ] This same principle was implied in the charge God gave His people at the foot of Mount Sinai, when He said: "You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (ch. 19:6). Just in the same way as the apostle Paul saw his own conversion and salvation as an example for others, so God wanted to use the nation of Israel to show the world that He loves and saves. In Paul's words we read: "But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life."[ 20 ]

Israel was to be the nation through whom God revealed Himself to the whole world. This revelation was not meant to be a condemnation. Jesus Himself said: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."[ 21 ] If Israel's salvation turns out to be a cause for the nations to tremble, it is not because God did not want to save them, but because they did not want to be saved. This is the basis of the fear of the surrounding nations which Moses' hymn speaks about.

The "holy dwelling" in vs. 13 is, primarily, the place of God's presence. This would include the revelation on Mount Sinai as well as the place God would choose later in Canaan. Although in the context of this hymn a certain locality was probably intended, the essence is the presence of the Lord and not the place. Any place on earth can be holy ground when God reveals Himself. The place of revelation loses its worth when the presence of the Lord departs. Ezekiel describes this in his prophecy when he sees the glory of the Lord leaving the temple and the city of Jerusalem, as the spirit leaves the body, leaving behind a dead body which decomposes. After this vision the Babylonian army comes and destroys the city and the temple.[ 22 ] Even heaven would be empty if it were not for the presence of God. As Asaph said: "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you."[ 23 ]

As the hymn approaches the end it increases in intensity and power. The nations mentioned: Philistea, Edom and the inhabitants of Canaan become representatives of the world that is in the power of the Evil One. God's children pass by under divine protection and enter into the promised land. Moses reaches beyond the boundaries of Canaan as he comes to the climax of the hymn. From a group of miserable slaves who are bought into freedom by the blood of a lamb, God's children become an army that marches into a glory which goes far beyond any earthly situation. They march out of time into eternity, out of earth into heaven where "the LORD will reign for ever and ever" (vs. 18). Canaan was only a picture of the mountain of God's inheritance.

"The LORD will reign for ever and ever." The demonstration of God's power over Pharaoh and over the powers of nature was a sample of what God could do in the Kingdom of Heaven. The experiences the Israelites went through put things into the right perspective for them. What looks overawing in the framework of time takes on different dimensions in the light of eternity. When we are oppressed by earthly powers, we seldom realize what is behind it. All power is derived from God. All oppressive power has lost sight of its source. That is the corruption of power. Lord Acton's dictum was: "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." This is not actually correct since it is the short short-sightedness of the one in power that makes him corrupt. Any man who constantly reminds himself of the fact that he received his power from an outside source, and that he will have to give account of what he did with it, will use his authority wisely. The corruption is not in power itself, but in the human heart.

The Israelites finally realized that the whole structure of human powers and kingdoms was a statue with feet of clay. The only true power is the LORD.

This section ends with a recapitulation of the events and the introduction of Miriam and her choir. As we have seen already, the women played probably a much more important role in all this than we would guess from the few words in vs. 21, 22.

The whole hymn is like the testimony of a person who recently received salvation in surrendering his life to Christ and is expressing the exuberant joy of the new-born Christian. It echoes the joy of the angels in heaven when one sinner returns home. Unfortunately, this joy does not continue as a constant experience; we find that the edge of it soon dulls when it has to cut through what we call "the hard realities of daily life." But the facts never change. The only thing that changes is our emotions which are the least important part of our spiritual experience. Life on earth gives us a foretaste of heaven, but not heaven itself. Initially we begin with the song of Moses, and we will conclude with the song of Moses and of the Lamb, but for most of us there is a long, difficult road in between.

The last part of this chapter, from verse 22 through 27, would fit better in chapter 16 since it tells the beginning of the journey in the wilderness.

There are three sections to be observed:

1- The experience at "Marah" (vs. 22-25),

2- God's admonition and promise (vs. 26), and

3- the arrival at Elim (vs. 27).

Soon after the euphoric outburst at the eastern border of the Red Sea, the Israelites enter the Desert of Shur, which is called Etham in the book of Numbers.[ 24 ] There they face the hard reality of daily life. The myth that life with the Lord is an endless string of joys and victories is shattered. They must have had some reserves of drinking water, but at the end of a three-day trek into the barren land this runs out. As The Pulpit Commentary points out, the reserves were probably barely sufficient for the humans, and at the end of the three days, some of the cattle may have already started to die. So the grumbling, which had been an ever-present factor, even in Egypt, raises its head again. It is directed at Moses, who is held responsible for everything even though it is beyond his control. The trust in Moses, recorded in ch. 14:31, has already evaporated. If Moses had staked his reputation upon public opinion polls, he would have been the most miserable man in the world. As a matter of fact, any man who lets his behavior be determined by opinion polls will be miserable. The important factor in our life is not what people think of us, but what God thinks.

Hunger and thirst were originally safeguards God built into our bodies to keep us functioning normally. Without hunger we could starve to death, and without thirst we would die even faster from dehydration. The Lord permitted Israel to experience on a physical level the importance of eating and drinking, of craving the most essential things in life, in order to teach them that the same laws govern spiritual life. Moses expresses this lesson in Deuteronomy where he says: "He [God] humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."[ 25 ]

The greatest hindrance to spiritual growth and increase in our fellowship with God is a lack of spiritual thirst and hunger. "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"[ 26 ] And Jesus says: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."[ 27 ] It is not God's unwillingness to bless that is the obstacle, but our lack of interest. The psalmist says: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it."[ 28 ]

The key issue in all this is faith, that is trusting God in the dark, knowing that God is reliable in spite of circumstantial evidence to the contrary. That seems to be the point of vs. 25. We read: "There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them."

Even in our present day, there appear to be water holes in that area of the desert where the water is undrinkable because of its extremely bitter taste. Some commentators speculate about the kind of wood Moses was told to use in order to make the water palatable. But the kinds of wood that would have a natural ability to sweeten water do not grow there now. They are either extinct or they never were there and it would have taken tons of wood to sweeten the thousands of gallons of water needed to quench the thirst of two million people with their livestock. When we read: "Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet" (vs. 25); it seems that only one branch of a tree was used to perform the miracle.

God did not make the water bitter; that was the natural condition. He made it sweet and usable. It has been suggested that the piece of wood Moses used was an image of the cross of Christ. We have to be careful not to over-spiritualize this story, but the analogy is there. It is through the death of Christ on the cross that our thirst is quenched. There is, however, no magic in the wood, neither of the piece Moses threw into the water at Marah nor in the wood of the cross on which Jesus died.

What the Lord is saying to the Israelites at this point is that as He healed the water, so He will heal them. The Israelites had as much bitterness in their hearts as in their mouths. They came out of slavery that had robbed them of all their human dignity. They went through physical duress in their trek through the wilderness. They resented this. Bitterness makes a man sick. God promises them here that He will heal their emotions as well as their bodies. The way of healing is the way of obedience. As sickness and death came into this world through disobedience, so healing and life will come via obedience. The basis is the obedience of Christ. Paul says this in Romans: "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous."[ 29 ] But individual healing is the result of personal obedience.

Bitterness and resentment implies blaming God for the world we are in, for the condition of our lives and for ourselves. It is the basis of all sickness. "If God is love, why ....?" God promises to heal. Jehovah-Raffa, "the LORD who heals you" will make us into a grateful person who gives thanks in everything. "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."[ 30 ]

Vs. 25 says specifically that the experience at Marah was a test for the Israelites. It would have been as easy for God to change the water before Israel arrived at that place as afterwards. But He waited to see what the reaction of the people would be. God is not subjected to our circumstances. He can change them at will, but He cannot change us without our consent. God wanted Israel to know that they failed the tests so that they would get a better understanding of their own inner condition. The important matter was not the bitter water or the arid desert, but the human heart. We tend to project our misery upon our circumstances, so the blame will not fall upon ourselves. It is true that we live in a desert and our drinking water is bitter, but our hearts are drier than desert and more bitter than the water of Marah. Unless we understand this and cry to the Lord as Moses did, we will not be changed.

God says to Israel in vs. 26: "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you." The emphasis, as far as our responsibility to God is concerned, is to listen and obey. Our eyes deceive us, but our ears do not. Faith is by hearing, not by seeing. Therefore, Paul says in Romans: "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."[ 31 ] And Jesus says to Thomas "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."[ 32 ]

Furthermore, that verse shows us that most of the healing is preventative. God will keep away from us the sickness that plagued the Egyptians. But most of all, the healing is in our relationship with God. The literal translation of YHWH-Raffa is not "I am the LORD, who heals you," but, as the RSV translates it: "I am the LORD, your healer." God does not give healing, He is healing.

As a foretaste of what such fellowship with God entails, God leads them to Elim with its twelve springs and seventy palm trees. Fellowship with God is like an oasis in the desert. It is like a feast in enemy country. As David said: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."[ 33 ]

[ 1 ] See Gen. 4:23, 24

[ 2 ] Rev. 15:3

[ 3 ] I Cor. 10:1,2

[ 4 ] Rom. 5:12

[ 5 ] Rev. 6:2

[ 6 ] Ps. 27:1 (KJV)

[ 7 ] Rom. 8:37

[ 8 ] I Cor. 1:30

[ 9 ] John 4:21,23,24

[ 10 ] See I Cor. 3:16,17; 6:19; Eph. 2:21

[ 11 ] II Sam. 7:11

[ 12 ] Judges 6:24

[ 13 ] Is. 40:25,26,28

[ 14 ] See Numb. 12

[ 15 ] Ps. 8:3

[ 16 ] Is. 63:11-14

[ 17 ] Rev. 20:11

[ 18 ] Is. 40:25

[ 19 ] Gen. 12:3

[ 20 ] I Tim. 1:16

[ 21 ] John 3:17

[ 22 ] See Ez. 8 - 11

[ 23 ] Ps. 73:25

[ 24 ] Num. 33:8

[ 25 ] Deut. 8:3

[ 26 ] Ps. 42:1,2

[ 27 ] Matt. 5:6

[ 28 ] Ps. 81:10

[ 29 ] Rom. 5:19

[ 30 ] I Thes. 5;18

[ 31 ] Rom. 10:17

[ 32 ] John 20:29

[ 33 ] Ps. 23:5