Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Exodus 15:22-27
The Beginning of the Long March: Water Shortage Followed By Provision (Exodus 15:22).
a Moses leads Israel forward into the wilderness of Shur (Exodus 15:22 a).
b They went three days in the wilderness and found no water (Exodus 15:22 b).
c Arriving in Marah they could not drink the waters of Marah because they were bitter (Exodus 15:23).
d The people murmur as to what they are to drink (Exodus 15:24).
e Moses cries to Yahweh and He shows him a tree which will make the water sweet (Exodus 15:25 a).
e There Yahweh made for them a statute and an ordinance (Exodus 15:25 b).
d And there He proved them (Exodus 15:25 c).
c They are promised that if they will fully obey Him they will not suffer any of the diseases that come on the Egyptians because He is ‘Yahweh Who heals them' (Exodus 15:26).
b They come to Elim where there is food and water aplenty (Exodus 15:27).
a They take their journey and come to the Wilderness of Sin (Exodus 16:1).
Note the interesting parallels. In ‘a' they leave the wilderness of Shur and in the parallel arrive at the Wilderness of Sin. In ‘b' they find no water in the parallel they find abundance of water. In ‘c' the waters of Marah were bitter, and in the parallel Yahweh promises that if they obey Him life will not be bitter through diseases. In ‘d' the people murmur as to what they are to drink, and in the parallel Yahweh ‘proves them'. In ‘e' Yahweh makes provision for them by making the water sweet and in the parallel He makes provision for them by giving them statutes and ordinances which will make life sweet
‘And Moses led Israel onward from the sea of reeds and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.'
It was now that they begin to learn the hardships of the way. Taking a wilderness route through the wilderness of Shur they travelled for three days through the hot sun and found no water. They had their first lesson that things would not be easy even though they were free.
“The wilderness.” The term wilderness can cover a number of types of ground from desert, to scrub land, to reasonable pasturage, and in many parts of the Sinai peninsula the water table is not far below the ground. Furthermore sheep and goats that have been well pastured can provide milk for some considerable time. So the children of Israel on their journey would pass over many types of ground and would usually be able to feed their cattle and flocks and to find water, substituting it where necessary with milk. But this area was clearly particularly difficult.
“The wilderness of Shur.” Passing through the wilderness of Shur, which stretched eastward from the coast, was ‘the way of the land of the Philistines', guarded by a chain of Egyptian forts, which led northward along the coast, and the ‘way of the wilderness of Shur' which led northward to Kadesh. This wilderness was the starting point as you leave Egypt. But ‘the way of the land of the Philistines' was forbidden to the children of Israel, and they were in any case concerned to keep away from routes where they might be followed. They thus took another route which would lead them into the wilderness of Sinai, probably the road used by the Egyptians to the copper and turquoise mines of Sinai, which they worked mainly during January to March when Egyptian troops would be there. But by this time (early April) they would be absent. This led along by the Gulf of Suez. But one problem with this route was the shortage of water for the cattle and flocks.
An interesting discovery at these turquoise mines were the "proto- Sinaitic" inscriptions of the early 15th century B.C. which were just informal dedications, worknotes and brief epitaphs (for offerings) by Semitic captives from the Egyptian East Delta (or Memphis settlements) employed in the mines. They illustrate free use of that script by Semites under Egyptian rule before the time of Moses.
“Three days.” Possibly meaning ‘a few days'. During this period all attempts to find water failed.
‘And when they came to Marah they could not drink of the waters of Marah because they were bitter. That is why the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him a tree and he cast it into the waters and the waters were made sweet.'
After the period without water they came to the oasis at Marah, but the waters were too bitter to drink. Marah may well be the modern ‘Ayin Hawarah. This is a solitary spring of bitter water which now has stunted palm trees growing near it, although the quality of the water varies from time to time. When they saw water the children of Israel were no doubt ecstatic, but the desert waters were bitter compared with the sweet waters of the Nile valley and while their cattle and flocks may well have drunk of it the people themselves found that they could not stomach it. Their joy turning to disappointment they immediately turned on Moses. This led him to pray to Yahweh who directed him to a bush which was probably a kind of barberry, which is known to have the qualities described. And when this was thrown into the waters it was made sweet, that is, the bitterness was softened.
It may be that from his life in the wilderness with the Midianites he had learned the usefulness and effectiveness of this bush on such occasions, and that his prayer to Yahweh was for help in finding such bushes, a cry which was rewarded by Him showing him where he could indeed find some.
Note the contrast between Egypt with the sweet-water Nile made bitter, and the bitter water here made sweet. He Who had brought judgment on Egypt could in a similar way bring provision to Israel. And in the next verse this provision will include His statutes and His ordinances.
This the first of many times that we are told that the people murmured. We see immediately their slave conditioning. A few days before they had beheld a deliverance that would be remembered for generations to come, but now because of shortage of water they have already forgotten it. While it would certainly be hot, and the journey difficult, there had not really been time for the position to become desperate. The fact was that they had expected to find water, but had not. They were not used to not having water at hand. The Nile had always been near. They were not yet aware of what could be expected in wilderness conditions, and of trek discipline, and had been caught out. And immediately their buoyant spirits slumped.
The emphasis on the water shortage is a sign of genuineness. This above all would be what such a large group would immediately notice in the wilderness. The provision by natural means is also a sign of genuineness, and reminds us that God keeps his miracles (and Moses' staff) for important occasions.
‘There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them. And he said, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and will do what is right in his eyes, and will give ear to what he commands, 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 your healer.” '
“There he made for them a statute and an ordinance.” Here also is an attempt to make life sweet. We may see in this the first attempt of Moses, at the command of Yahweh, to lay down some pattern of behaviour by which the conglomerate peoples now making up ‘the children of Israel' could be governed on their wilderness journey. The accompaniment by the mixed multitude had been an unexpected event and clearly some kind of agreement had to be reached about behaviour now that they were part of the children of Israel, so that all could be aware of their responsibilities and what was expected of them. They would not have the same customs as the original children of Israel. It was therefore necessary to lay down certain laws to be observed by all. This would enable the smooth running of the camp.
Humanly speaking these would be taken from his own experiences, his knowledge of Egyptian and Midianite laws, and the customs of his own people formulated under the wise guidance of the fathers. They would be written down to form a guide and pattern. This is then confirmed by Yahweh with the promise that obedience will result in good health. Such an attempt would be required in view of the inexperience of the people in living under such conditions and their wide differences in customs (the mixed multitude). The corollary is that if they did not obey they would come under judgment.
From Moses later behaviour we can presume that these also were put down in writing and read out to the people. They were a primitive beginning to the later laws. They were then no doubt put into the primitive Tent of Meeting as part of ‘the Testimony' (see on 16:34).
“There he proved them.” This is Moses' response to their murmuring. The verb was used of the testing of Abraham (Genesis 22:1). This may refer to the testing of the people by the bitter waters, a test which they failed. Or it may refer to the fact that He laid down these regulations described above through Moses and ‘proved' them by seeing whether they were willing to respond to them by accepting them as the binding requirements of Yahweh. In view of the words that followed the latter seems more likely, although there may be a play on the two situations. It should be noted that Yahweh is said to ‘prove' His people three times, here, in Exodus 16:4 and in Exodus 20:20. He is building up to Sinai.
However, in view of the words that follow where the second part at least is in the words of Yahweh, we may take the ‘He made for them' and ‘He proved them' words speaking about Yahweh. He had made the waters sweet, now He provided the guidance and laws which would enable life to go on sweetly. And He did it to test out whether, in spite of their murmurings, they were ready to be faithful to Him.
“If you will diligently hear and obey the voice of Yahweh your God, and will do what is right in his eyes --- I will --.” These are the direct words of Yahweh through Moses. The change from the third person to the first person occurs on a number of occasions in the Old Testament in words of Yahweh, reflecting the composite nature of God. The reward for obedience will be good health. Instead of bitterness there will be sweetness. He had healed the waters and he would heal them. The corollary was that flagrant disobedience would lead precisely to such diseases. It is in fact unquestionable that some of the provisions of the Law would enhance their physical wellbeing.
“Diseases.” They were to be kept from the diseases common in Egypt such as ophthalmia, dysentery, and a variety of skin diseases (see Deuteronomy 28:27). In the context this mention of diseases links with the bitterness of the water. If Israel are obedient they will be delivered from diseases, if they are not they will drink bitter water.
‘And they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees and they encamped there by the waters.'
Their reward for their response was to arrive at an abundant oasis, a sign of Yahweh's pleasure in it. ‘Twelve' and ‘seventy' are probably not to be taken literally. They probably indicate sufficiency, the ‘twelve' springs of water indicating ample sufficiency of water for the twelve sub-tribes, and the ‘seventy' palm trees indicating the divine sufficiency of the provision of palm trees with their fruits and shelter (what are a literal seventy palm trees among so many?), or even sufficiency for the clans of the seventy elders.
As with all the stops on the journey identification is uncertain but the Wadi Gharandel, a well-known watering place complete with tamarisks and palms, has been suggested.
The whole area is a comparatively fertile one, and contains three fertile wadis which have water most of the year, and many springs of water. The pasturage is fairly good, sometimes rich and luxuriant and there are an abundance of tamarisks, and a number of palm trees. After the dryness of the way it must have been a joy to behold, and they would be able to spread out to the other wadis and ensure that their flocks and herds were able to make up for the hard times that they had experienced.