Exercising Their Faith

 

After seeing the Egyptian army destroyed, the Israelites held a huge celebration of God’s deliverance right there on the shore, as described in Exodus 15.  Three days later, they arrived at Marah, according to Exodus 15:22-24. “So Moses brought Israel 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.  And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.  And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?”

 

Just ten days after leaving Egypt, and three days after crossing the Red Sea and seeing the Egyptian army wiped out, the people started griping about Moses again because the water was undrinkable.  When He prayed, God showed him a tree that would neutralize the chemicals in the water, as Exodus 15:25-26 describes.  “And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.”

 

A lesson or way of thinking does not become a habit until has been repeated several times.  While they had seen God set them free, and take them through the Red Sea, depending on the Lord had not yet become an automatic responses to unpleasant situations.  Marah gave them another opportunity to trust God and see his power.  That God showed them how to make the water useable demonstrated again his power over all the things they might experience. 

 

In the process God made them a valuable promise that if they would keep all his commandments and laws, they would not suffer from the same plagues and diseases their neighboring nations experienced.   If they would obey him completely, God would act on their behalf to protect them from those diseases.  Unfortunately, future generations would tend to focus on those commands that seemed to relate most directly to health issues and ignore other commands because they didn’t see any obvious connection.  As a result, they experienced many of the same diseases as the people around them.  The dietary and health laws were only part of God’s commands and God did not promise to protect them for partial obedience.  Partial obedience is still disobedience.  As we have shown before, our obedience is a demonstration of our faith.

 

Having demonstrated his power once again, God next led them to Elim, an oasis with plenty of water, and seventy palm trees, as described in Exodus 15:27.  “And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.”  They would rest at Elim for a couple of weeks before resuming their journey.  It gave them time to think about what God had done for them and absorb the lessons he wanted to teach them.