According to the agreement between God and Moses, before leading the Israelites into Canaan, he would bring the people to Mount Sinai to worship and serve Him. Therefore, after the people crossed the Red Sea, they headed towards Sinai.
The Israelites, who were originally weak but were called Jehovah’s army by God, entered the wilderness of Shur, which was large and terrifying and infested with poisonous snakes and scorpions. They did not find water for three days and were excited when they crossed the Red Sea. There is no one left, and no one is grateful to God because there are no casualties in the wilderness of Shur. The inconvenience of life makes their hearts sad!
These Israelites, who were born as slaves in Egypt, did not have many opportunities to travel and vacation. They may have heard about the hardships along the way from Egypt to Canaan, but they have never experienced it personally until now.
At this time, they arrived at the border of Marah and saw water, but it was too bitter to drink. They finally couldn't bear it anymore and complained to Moses.
Marah, which means bitter taste in Hebrew, is in the wilderness of Shur, about 20 kilometers south from there is Elim.
Elim, Hebrew means the land of palm trees. Compared to Marah, Elim is a better place. It is a famous oasis with abundant water resources.
After reading this passage, many people asked:
Why didn’t God let them go to Elim first and then to Marah?
Many people who don’t read maps and are good at cooking emotional chicken soup take advantage of this opportunity to make a big fuss. They say:
“Ah, God always puts us first in the journey of life. Taste the pain, and then give us sweetness...The experience of the Israelites was carefully arranged by God! God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Our future will be like this, first bitter and then sweet..."
There is nothing wrong with these words. We agree that the Israelites’ journey in the wilderness was guided by God, and so do we, but this has nothing to do with the order in which the Israelites passed through Marah Elim.
The characteristics of Marah and Elim have been like this since ancient times. If they wanted to go from Egypt to Mount Sinai, they would first go to Marah and then to Elim in this order.
If someone asks again at this time: Didn’t God lead the Israelites on detours in the wilderness for many years?
We answer: When they first left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, they had not yet provoked God’s anger and had to wander in the wilderness for many years!
You can save the map at the beginning of the article.
Is it always "bitter first and then sweet"? Not necessarily.
Sometimes after experiencing material scarcity, basic needs are still lacking; this is often the case even among God's people.
Let us not be confused:
What really bothers the Israelis is not whether they have water to drink, nor how the water tastes. What really bothers the Israelis is their worries about the future and their concerns about the future. God’s unbelief.
If someone is called by God, has God’s presence, and is led by God, can anything more exciting happen in his life? there is none left! ! !
But these Israelites were called by God, were with God, and were led by God, but they did not focus on God. They only cared about the environment they were experiencing now!
To put it simply: their disbelief in God leads them to worry about the future.
Such people will have other problems even if there are sweet springs everywhere along the way.
Unbelief in God is a terrible cancer in our lives!
Later, God instructed Moses to throw a tree into the water, and the water became sweet.
The word "instruction" in the original Bible means God pouring out and pouring out His power.
However, just because we have learned today’s content, when we encounter bitter water in the future, we should not think that if we throw a tree into it, the water will immediately become sweeter; I hope no one among us will study it carefully. What tree did Moses throw down? How big is it? Is it the branches or the trunk of the missing tree? Do you take the roots with you?
Miracles are not scientific experiments!
Scientific experiments can be repeated because the rules exist and remain unchanged, but the miracles are different; if God had instructed Moses to throw in a piece of clothing, the water would also turn sweet.
The occurrence of miracles that benefit God’s people does not depend on limited methods, but only on God’s authority and will.
The same principle applies to healing diseases, exorcising ghosts, etc. Here you can pause the voice and think carefully.
Verse 26 says: It is also said that God established statutes and regulations for them there.
What laws have been set? What regulations?
What prevents us from correctly understanding the meaning of this verse is the word "and" in verse 26. There is no such word in the original Bible. In other words: the laws and regulations God set for them are requirements for Israel. The people listened carefully to God's words and did what was right in God's eyes.
In the process of translating the Union Version of the Bible, the word "and" is superfluous.
The presence or absence of this word has a great impact on the understanding of this passage. Brothers and sisters can open the Bible, read it again, and understand it with your heart.
The Israelis’ requirement for drinking water is considered normal by themselves, but unfortunately, whether our lives look normal in our own eyes or in the eyes of others is not the most important, because people naturally have reactions. , God mostly doesn’t like it.
The greatest goal is to do what is right in the eyes of God.
This is not the lofty opinion of the God-man Moses, nor is it a movement we have just launched now. This is a rule set by God for his people long ago.
But the Israelites complained about Moses again.
What does the taste of this water have to do with Moses? Israelis sometimes are simply unreasonable!
Israel is like a specimen of God’s chosen people around the world. We are also like them.
Lord, you are so great! He actually loves people like us!
Verse 26 says, If you listen to God’s commandments and keep all his statutes, God will not bring any of the diseases that God brought on the Egyptians to the Israelites, for I, the Lord, am your healer .
What does this mean? What disease did the Egyptians suffer from? Is this God threatening the Israelites with disease?
Not so!
The most serious and terrible disease of people is disobedience to God, which brings the disease of death to their lives.
The Egyptians suffered from this fatal disease.
What God means when he says this is: My people! Don't be foolish, rebellious, and unbelieving like the Egyptians!
To be honest, since Moses went down to Egypt, the performance of the Israelites was not much better than that of Pharaoh. Will God continue to tolerate them just because they are His people? Will they remain unchanged?
No.
God will never let His people go. In order for the Israelites to not only care about themselves, the environment, and ignore God’s will, God will do everything possible to refine them and heal them!
So God said, I, the Lord, heal you.
The same is true for us who are considered sons of God through Christ Jesus.
In the future, God will also help us get rid of the old life.