Marah and Elim
Today I am skipping ahead in Exodus. I have not caught up with the prescribed Torah reading, but I am making progress. Being a good Catholic, I will turn back to the Passover closer to Easter. For now, my thoughts are set on Israel’s wanderings in the desert - a theme Church Fathers found fitting for Lent.
Yesterday I read Moses’ song of triumph. The people were filled with joy as the sea swallowed their enemies! They were jubilant - dancing - laughing! The Creator of heaven and earth had stretched out His arm on their behalf! He had worked a wonder never before seen on earth. All of Israel extolled the name of YHWH, the name which Pharaoh did not know. There was joy in the camp of Jacob’s descendants.
And then there was thirst. Singing makes one thirsty, and the Red Sea was too salty to drink.
So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. - Exodus 15:22-24
What I find most interesting, and most human, in this passage, is how quickly the Israelites turned from jubilation to despair. How could the people whom YHWH had, just days before, led out of Egypt with gold upon their necks, think that He would now abandon them in the wilderness? It seems crazy, but we are all familiar with this particular insanity. It comes from not knowing the LORD intimately. It comes from not trusting Him entirely - and if we don’t trust in His love, we will doubt His intentions. Despite all they had seen - the plagues and the darkness, the Passover and the Red Sea - the Hebrews did not believe that the LORD loved them. In their defense, they had just been delivered from generations of slavery. It takes time to heal that kind of trauma. But then again - it takes gall to accuse the One who commands the waves!
Of course, the LORD had no intention of letting His people perish from thirst. Rather, He was writing a great story. The water thrown into the water was a prefigure of the cross. Water signifies life, and in Hebrew imagery, rain, dew and springs of water are often associated with the divine. But the waters of Marah were bitter - undrinkable. They could no longer give life. God, being the great story-writer that He is, was using these bitter waters as both a sign and a prefigure of salvation. The life God gave to men had become corrupted through sin. We were no longer able to “drink” His life eternal. So the LORD showed Moses a tree which would make the waters sweet again. A tree in the future, the Cross, would enable mankind to once again drink Living Water. (Interestingly, the Hebrew word for “tree” in this passage is the same word use for “gallows” in Esther - an instrument of execution.)
The obstacle at Marah, I think, was like the problem of the man born blind. The Pharisees asked Jesus why that man was being punished - for his own sins or the sins of his parents. Jesus replied that it was neither. The blindness of that man was in fact a gift - an opportunity for God to be glorified. And when that man was healed, he was filled with wonder! I do not doubt that he is eternally glad that he was born blind because it gave him the chance to meet Jesus.
The Israelites had a hard time seeing their difficulties in that light. When they ran out of water, they did not question their own sin - rather they questioned God’s goodness. Reading the scripture from our vantange point, it is clear that the LORD had not turned His affections from them. Far from it! Israel was still in the flower of her deliverance! Now YHWH intended to give His people another sign of His affection and salvation. But their grumbling blinded them. They had no faith to simply ask YHWH for water to drink. Worse, they felt no wonder over the sign He performed. Nor had they any inclination to thank Him and repent for their grumbling. Their fear hardened their hearts, and their mistrust offended the LORD.
Those of us who have walked through hardship with the LORD should take note of this story for the sake of the next generation. Like Moses, I have seen the faithfulness of God time and again. In times of difficulty, I hope to be like Moses who had confidence to call upon the LORD for help. It is important for those of us who know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to serve as His witnesses when those around us clamor in fear. Those who are younger in the faith and those who have been traumatized in some way do not have the same history that we have to draw upon. We who are spiritual fathers and mothers must resist the temptation to grumble! For the sake of our children, we must show courage and hope in God’s deliverance.
Until today, I had never seen how tenderly the LORD treats Israel after their grumbling at Marah.
There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” - Ex. 15:25-26
In the face of Israel’s grumbling, YHWH promises to be their healer. And then He leads them to a place of mercy.
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters. - Ex 15:27
There were twelve wells at Elim - one for each tribe of Israel. There were seventy palms - one for each of the descendants of Jacob who went down into Egypt. But did the people have eyes to notice the glory of God in the details? Only Moses, who did not grumble, had eyes to see the story.