Yahweh’s Provision
Yahweh's Provision
Marah
Then Moses had the Israelites journey from the Red Sea into the Wilderness of Shur. They walked in the wilderness for three days but found no water until they arrived at Marah. But they couldn’t drink Marah’s water because it was bitter. That’s why it’s called Marah.
The people complained about Moses. “What are we supposed to drink?”
So Moses cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him a tree branch. When Moses threw it into the water, the water became pure. There Yahweh issued him a just decree, and there he tested him. “If you carefully obey Yahweh, your God, do what he considers right, listen to his commands, and obey all his decrees, I won’t inflict on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. I am Yahweh, your healer.”
From the northern end of the Red Sea, Moses had the Israelites head into the wilderness. The Sinai Peninsula is a harsh region made up of semiarid areas in the north and tall mountains in the south.1 After the spiritual high of the Red Sea crossing, the Israelites quickly faced the stark reality of daily life as a free people. The Egyptians would no longer provide for their basic needs.
For three days, the Israelites found no water. On the fourth day, to their frustration, they found contaminated water that tasted bitter. So they named the place Marah, which means “bitter.” But instead of turning to Yahweh for a solution, the thirsty people complained about Moses. They thought serving God would mean a problem-free life. So at the first sign of difficulty, they started whining about their human leadership.
Moses did what the people should have done. He cried out to Yahweh for help. In response, Yahweh showed him a tree branch. When Moses threw the branch in the water, the water became drinkable. But the text doesn’t say the branch itself purified the water. Rather, Moses’s act of obedience coincided with the purification. Yahweh used the Israelites complaining to test Moses.2 Would the leader of his people carefully obey his commands? Once Moses proved himself faithful, Yahweh healed the water. Then he promised that continued obedience would result in continued healing, though not in a lack of hardship.
A Test of Blessing
Then they arrived at Elim, where there are twelve springs and seventy date palms.
After leaving Elim, the entire assembly of the Israelites entered the Wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai. They arrived on the fifteenth day of the second month, after they left the land of Egypt.
In the wilderness, the entire assembly complained about Moses and Aaron. “We wish Yahweh had put us to death in the land of Egypt while we sat around pots of meat and ate bread until we were satisfied! You’ve brought us into this wilderness to starve this whole community to death.”
So Yahweh told Moses, “Look! I’m about to rain bread down on you from the sky. Then the people will go out each day to gather their daily portion so I can test whether they’ll follow my instructions. On the sixth day, when they determine what they’ve brought in, it will be double what they gather on the other days.”
After the Israelites left Marah, Yahweh led them to Elim, one of the oases in the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. The twelve springs of Elim provided them with more fresh water, but the seventy date palms represented another frustration. Later in the year, the Israelites could have feasted on the sweet dates. But they arrived there in the spring, before date palms bear fruit.3
Leaving Elim, they entered the Wilderness of Sin and immediately started complaining again. One month after leaving Egypt, they had started running out of food. Forgetting how Yahweh had provided water for them at Marah, they failed to turn to him. Instead, they started idealizing their life in Egypt. While their Egyptian masters would have given them food so they could continue working, they certainly didn’t have “pots of meat” or all the bread they could eat. Worst of all, they accused Moses and Aaron, who had no more food than they did, of intentionally starving them.
Yahweh responded with a promise to provide the people with bread. Each day, the people would have to go out the gather the bread. By providing for Israel, Yahweh would test them. But he didn’t test whether they would obey him through difficult times. He tested whether they would obey him through blessings. After he provided for them at Marah, they failed to trust that he would continue doing so. Would they learn their lesson and trust him now? Or would they continue to disobey and complain?
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, “Sinai Peninsula,” last modified December 31, 2024, https://www.britannica.com/place/Sinai-Peninsula.
- Although the pronoun in Hebrew is singular (“him”), most translations change it to plural (“them”), making it sound like Yahweh tested the Israelites instead of Moses. There is no justification for this change.
- Koops, Plants and Trees, 2.5 Date Palm.