Exodus 15:22-27--Bitter Water Made Sweet

Bitter Water Made Sweet
22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

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

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A much shorter passage again, but an important one.  The people of Israel had just seen the 10 plagues and miraculous deliverance at the Red Sea, and yet their thinking has not yet been transformed to realize that if God was with them, nothing in this physical world or the spiritual one could stand against them.  They have traveled three days through the desert where water is scarce and they had no way to get enough water for all of their people, flocks and herds.  Did God really bring them out into the desert to kill them all?  They had just asked that at the Red Sea, and they will ask it again here.  The only source of water they could find was brackish water and could not fit for drinking as it was "bitter" and made the people sick.

We now see a picture that we won't understand until many thousands of years later that this "bitter" water is us and we may think that we're as important as water in the desert, but we are utterly useless to anyone because we are unable to give or sustain life since we are full of sin, and sin leads to death, not life.

It is only when God tells Moses to throw a tree (a symbol of the cross of Christ) into the water that the water is transformed to "sweet" water that is free of the pollutants that were making the people sick.  How much more so did God change the "bitter" hearts of those who have repented and undergone the regeneration (being "born again") that is brought about by the power of the gospel to make what was "bitter" "sweet."

God once again renews His covenant with His people there, but this is a different kind of covenant--a conditional one.  God says that if they will be obedient, diligently listen to Him, and do what is right in His eyes, then He will not bring on them any of the plagues that were brought onto the Egyptians, and He gives Himself a new name here, "I AM the LORD, Your Healer"--Jehovah Rapha.

After this, the Lord led them to a place of 12 springs near 70 palm trees (these numbers have some significance bionically, but it is enough to understand that it was enough "living water" and shade to protect them and provide for them for the time they encamped there).  God intentionally led the people to the bitter water instead of leading them directly to the 12 springs of living water with the 70 palm trees because God knew they had a lesson He needed to teach them and they needed to learn something new about Him they wouldn't learn any other way other than experiencing it.  Do you ever feel this way in your life and want to take a "short cut" to escape the "bitter" times of life and head straight to the oasis?  Have such situations made you question the character and nature of God, specifically either his power, love, and goodness?  If so, you will empathize much with the Israelites as they go through the wilderness and struggle to understand God's plan and why God has led them the route that He has.  They are particular fickle and seem to live by the lyrics, "What have you done for me lately?"  But, are we that different?

If we were about to die of thirst, would we make the connection that the God that just parted the Red Sea for us was going to make the water drinkable?  We would have not really seen or even heard of that before other than when God changed the water to blood and then turned it back to regular water.  So, try to put yourself in the story and see everything through their eyes for the first time.  They are used to gods that have limited dominion over certain things and for whom some tasks are just too difficult or outside their power that they posses.  They will have trouble not thinking of the LORD like this and will be tempted to think, "Did we follow the wrong god?"  Or maybe thinking, "I don't remember the Egyptians dealing with this.  Maybe we chose the wrong side."  It will take a long time and the death of an entire generation (40 years) before the people will be ready to enter the Promised Land and even then Joshua will have to speak to them at the end of his life and charge them to say, "15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”" (Joshua 24:15).  These are some of Joshua's last words before he died, but the people swore to follow God faithfully, though we know that didn't happen.

Again, we have the benefit of knowing the beginning, the middle and the end of the story.  We know the people will be unfaithful.  We know that they will go back into slavery and God will have to use evil empires to humble them and bring them back.  We know they will commit idolatry and all kinds of wickedness, and we know that even when God came down in the flesh to teach them and redeem them, most of them would not believe Him.  So why would God choose such a people for Himself?  For the answer to that question we're going to have to dig much deeper into the Old Testament, but I encourage you to see yourself and ask the same questions--God knew everything about you before salvation and everything you would do after salvation.  So, why would God choose to redeem you when He knew that you weren't going to be faithful to Him and be perfectly obedient?  Where is the line where someone no longer deserves God's grace for you?  Are you willing to have God apply that same standard to you?  The answer is that we don't lose our salvation and don't stop being the people of God--ever.  There are those who claim to be born into the family and then choose to leave of their own free will, but that's different.