Exodus 15:22-27--Water Provided

Daily Readings

•    Day 1: Exodus 15:22-27
•    Day 2: Exodus 16:1-8
•    Day 3: Exodus 16:9-20
•    Day 4: Exodus 16:21-30
•    Day 5: Exodus 16:31-36
•    Day 6: Psalm 13

Exodus 15:22-27 
World English Bible

22 Moses 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. 23 When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah. 24 The people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 Then he cried to Yahweh. Yahweh 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. 26 He said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh 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 Yahweh who heals you.”

27 They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They encamped there by the waters.

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It didn't take long before the provisions they packed when leaving Egypt (specifically their provisions of drinking water) ran out.  They were now in the desert, and, though they just crossed the Red Sea, they could not gather water from there for their journey since that was salt water.  They could not go all the way back to the Nile River to gather fresh water, and the only source of water they found was "bitter" (non-potable).

After three days in the wilderness, it is likely their stores of water were gone and it is reasonable that they cried out to Moses (their leader who had lived in that region for 40 years) to tell them where they could get water so that they didn't die, but the LORD had led them to this place for a reason.  He has put them in another impossible situation--this time facing death from natural causes instead of from an advancing army, but the treat is just as real.  Could the LORD who saved them from the Egyptians also save them from starvation and dehydration? No one even considered to ask the LORD for help besides Moses.

Moses cried to the LORD for help, and the LORD showed him a tree (this tree would point forward to the cross of Christ) and when Moses threw the tree into the "bitter" water, it became "sweet" (potable).  The LORD is able to change the nature of something that brought death to make it bring life and to change the state of a person from "bitter," useless water to "sweet," refreshing, life-giving water.  This is done by the power of the cross of Christ alone.

​Then the LORD made a special conditional covenant with the people of Israel:
“If you will diligently listen to Yahweh 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 Yahweh who heals you.”

Up to this point, we have not really seen conditional covenants from the LORD--they are actually pretty rare as the Bible typically shows Him making unconditional covenants that have to do with redemption and salvation with His people because He does all the work necessary to save and redeem His people.  There is no indication that the people swore to follow all of the LORD's instructions this time, but we will see other times they will swear, but we know they cannot keep this conditional covenant.  The whole point of making such a covenant with them is to bring them to the point where they realize that they can never be good enough to deserve His blessings.  They are going to instead of have to ask for grace (unmerited favor) and mercy (not getting the wrath and punishment they deserve to have poured out on them--the curses and plagues and diseases mentioned here).

The LORD then leads them to a place of many pools of fresh water and seventy palm trees.  Seventy is an interesting number in the Bible as there will be 70 elders of the people of Israel who will later from the ruling body known as the Sanhedrin and Jesus would send out 70 envoys as advance teams in 35 teams of two to go out into all the countryside of Galilee and preach the gospel, heal the sick, and make Him known to everyone who would listen.  It carries with it the meanings of both the number 7 and the number 10 (its factors).  Seven is a number of perfection and holiness (the seven days of creation and the seventh day being called holy)  Ten is a number of completeness, specifically in regards to the Law of God (the Ten Commandments), so together the number 70 may symbolize "God's perfect spiritual order carried out with perfect power and authority that comes from God's holy presence dwelling among (and later within) His people."  They would live here for nearly two months (we'll see this in the beginning of our next passage).  We'll pick up the narrative there next time.